All News articles – Page 1336

  • News

    Postcode lottery for dental care

    2007-03-26T00:00:00Z

    A survey by consumer magazine Which? has found big regional variations in the availability of NHS dental care and a continuing lack of practitioners taking on new patients.Its research showed 36 per cent of practices are taking on new NHS patients. The areas with the highest proportion of practices doing ...

  • News

    BMA calls GP pay meeting

    2007-03-26T00:00:00Z

    The British Medical Association GP committee has invited local medical committee secretaries to a meeting to discuss the response to the GP pay award.The meeting will also cover the current state of general practice in the UK. It is scheduled for 19 April and will be chaired by committee chair ...

  • News

    Welsh cancer funding announced

    2007-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Welsh cancer services are to receive £4.5m of extra funding from the Welsh Assembly government.Minister for health and social services Dr Brian Gibbons said the funds were to support the implementation of recommendations from a recent review of cancer services.

  • News

    First anniversary of Scottish smoking ban welcomed

    2007-03-26T00:00:00Z

    First Minister Jack McConnell has welcomed the first anniversary of the Scottish ban on smoking in enclosed public places.Mr McConnell said the move was one of the greatest achievements of devolution.Read the press release here

  • News

    Healthcare commission calls for mandatory ethnicity reporting

    2007-03-23T00:00:00Z

    Healthcare Commission chair Professor Sir Ian Kennedy has called on the Department of Health to extend mandatory recording of ethnicity to all mental health and learning disability services.The request follows a 2006 census showing that people from some black and minority ethnic groups are three times more likely than average ...

  • News

    Breast screening programme detects more early cases

    2007-03-23T00:00:00Z

    More cases of breast cancer were detected in 2005-06 by the NHS breast screening programme than in any previous year, The Information Centre for health and social care announced today.Over 13,500 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in women aged 50 and over, an increase of 13 per cent over ...

  • News

    More funding needed for neglected diseases, says BMA

    2007-03-23T00:00:00Z

    A British Medical Association report published today says that since 2000 there has been a resurgence in drugs to treat diseases such as malaria and leprosy, but that governments across the world have failed to invest in them.BMA International Committee chair Dr Edwin Borman said: 'This report gives hope to ...

  • News

    NICE issues home births warning

    2007-03-23T00:00:00Z

    Women should be warned that babies born at home have a higher risk of dying, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has warned.Its guidance suggests women be reassured that the risk of their baby dying during childbirth is low wherever they are born - 5.1 deaths per 1,000 ...

  • News

    Minister launches smoke ban countdown

    2007-03-23T00:00:00Z

    The government is stepping up its campaign to help businesses get ready for the smoking ban, which comes into force on 1 July.Launching the 100-day countdown, public health minister Caroline Flint said: 'The new law will protect everyone from the harm of second-hand smoke at work and in public places, ...

  • News

    Improving picture for imaging

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Waiting times for scans and imaging procedures have fallen - but there are still 'unacceptable' waits that could impact on trusts' ability to hit 18-week targets.

  • News

    Hunter syndrome guidelines released

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Guidelines have been prepared to assist commissioning of services for mucopolysaccharide type II diseases (Hunter syndrome).The multidisciplinary group have extensive experience of enzyme replacement therapy for lysosomal storage disorders.Read the guidelines here

  • News

    Out-of-hours firms under review

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Two out-of-hours providers have just a few weeks to prove their services are up to scratch, HSJ can reveal.

  • News

    Minister defends research plans

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Science minister Malcolm Wicks has defended plans to reform medical research to align it more closely with the needs of the health service.Speaking to the science and technology select committee yesterday, he said a joint bid was being developed to set up an office for strategic co-ordination of health research.The ...

  • News

    Poor data threatens future of PbR system, warns minister

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Trusts must collect better data about patient services and involve clinicians in decisions if payment by results is to expand successfully, health minister Andy Burnham has warned.

  • News

    Tuberculosis rise continues

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Provisional figures released by the Health Protection Agency for 2006 show that cases of tuberculosis in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have increased 2 per cent from 8,008 cases reported in 2005 to 8,171 in 2006.London continues to account for the highest proportion of cases (42 per cent), but provisional ...

  • News

    PM's unit pushes more, but 'fairer', competition

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    The government this week set the stage for more providers to enter the healthcare market and spelled out the future of primary care trusts.

  • News

    Commission 'scapegoating' trusts over safety

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    The Healthcare Commission is too quick to 'scapegoat' trusts that seek patient safety advice, potentially deterring chief executives from seeking help.

  • News

    New chief for NHS Direct

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    The head of communications at the Department of Health is to become NHS Direct chief executive.

  • News

    Long-term care patients out of pocket

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Primary care trusts failed to reimburse fully patients who funded their own long-term care - because of poor Department of Health guidelines, the health ombudsman has said.

  • News

    The urgent care muddle may mean more nights to forget

    2007-03-22T00:00:00Z

    The transfer of responsibility for out-of-hours care from family doctors to primary care trusts has been anything but smooth. And uncertainty remains on how services will develop in future. Alison Moore looks at the options for a politically contentious issue