NAPC News 3 May 2012

GPs Are Being Told To Block Referrals

GPs are being put under pressure to reduce the number of patients they refer to hospital in order to save money, according to a survey by GP magazine.

The doctors interviewed in the survey described a ‘constant pressure to justify referrals and admissions, and pressure to avoid them.’

Doctors have been asked to review how many patients they refer to hospitals and investigate how many of their patients attend A&E departments.

Reckitt On A Roll With Asia’s Rising Middle Class

Reckitt Benckiser said this week that a fashion among Indian and Indonesian women for Veet Easy-Wax Electrical Roll on had driven a 4 per cent rise in group like-for-like sales in the first three months of the year.

However, sales in Europe and North America decision, its largest, dropped 1 per cent to £1.17 billion as consumers reined in spending.  The company was also hit by a weak flu season, which meant that it sold less Strepsils and Mucinex.

Off Patent Lipitor Weighs On Pfizer

Pfizer announced a steep drop in its first quarter profits after losing exclusive right to sell its top-selling drug, Lipitor, a cholesterol lowering medication.

Net income fell 19 per cent year on year to $1.79bn or 24 cents a share.

Osteoporosis Stalks Women Who Reach Menopause Early

A Swedish study has found that women who reach menopause early are at significantly greater risk for osteoporosis and bone fracture later in life.

Researchers recruited 390 48 year old women in 19777 and followed them for more than 34 years, evaluating their bone health.  For this study, 198 of the women were still available.

After controlling for age, body mass index, smoking, calcium intake and other factors, the scientists found that compared with other women, those who  reached the menopause before age 48 had an 80 per cent increased risk of osteoporosis, a 68 per cent increased risk of bone fracture and a 60 per cent increased risk of death.

To Avoid Food Poisoning Just Add Garlic

Research by Washington State University has suggested that adding garlic to chicken pate could reduce the chances of getting food poisoning.

Scientists have found a compound in garlic that is 100 times more effective in fighting common bacteria called Campylobacter, which causes food poisoning, than two types of antibiotic. 

The researchers found that a compound derived from garlic, called diallyl sulphide, was particularly effective in penetrating the slimy film that protects colonies of Campylobacter.  In a laboratory setting, it was 100 times more effective than the antibiotics erythromycin and cipro-floxacin, and would often work in a fraction of the time.

Girl Power Blamed For Teenage Drinking

A World Health Organisation report has suggested that the idea of ‘girl power’ has led teenage girls to believe they can drink as much as men.

The Health Behaviour In School-aged Children study found the world average for teenage drinking was 29 per cent.  Wales was the third worst country for teenage drinking, Scotland seventh and England eighth.

Professor Candace Currie of the University of St Andrews, who worked on the study, said the gender gap on ‘risk taking’ behaviour had narrowed in countries with more equality.

Call Rate Tattoo Parlours For Hygiene

Health experts have said that tattoo parlours should be rated according to their hygiene standards in the same way as restaurants and takeaways.


The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health said such a scheme would drive up standards across the country.  It developed the idea after its research discovered that people were unaware of the extent of the serious health problems and skin conditions associate with poor hygiene in tattoo parlours.

April Showers Could Mean A Sneezy Summer

The torrential downpours of the last month have sown the seeds of misery for millions of hay fever sufferers, who are being warned to expect record levels of pollen.

The Met Office said that the rain had helped the grass to grow well and that if the weather improved as expected, the grass would dry, leading to a huge release of pollen during the hay fever season.

How Red Wine Prolongs Life

Harvard researchers claim to have discovered the secret of how a plant compound found in red wine could be the key to a longer life.

They said resveratrol, which has already been credited with anti-ageing powers, really does boost the body’s supply of cell energy.  But it is only ‘switched on’ in the presence of a gene called SIRT1 that is the key to longevity and energy.


The US scientists, whose study is reported in the journal, Cell Metabolism, reached their conclusions after studying mice, some of whom  had had their SIRT1 gene switched off.

Cigarettes An Eye Risk

An expert has said that smokers should be warned on cigarette packets about their increased risk of blindness.

Professor Andrew Lotery, a consultant ophthalmologist, at Southampton General Hospital, said that smokers were four times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration.

Giant Magnifying Glass Scanner Detects Skin Cancer In Seconds

A new scanner which gives an instant diagnosis for life-threatening skin cancer is being tested at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital.

The £180,000 scanner works like a giant magnifying glass to detect cancer cells,, making it easier to stop the spread of melanoma.

The new scanner, called Vivascope, also produces incredibly detailed images that reduce the need for biopsies, which can leave the patients with scars.

Unfeminine School Sports Leave Girls On Sidelines

According to a report out this week, the health of Britain’s girls is suffering because they shun school sports, rejecting them as overly competitive and unfeminine.

A survey of just over 1,500 school pupils revealed that only 12 per cent of girls were reaching the standard level of fitness by age 14, half the rate for boys, which is itself alarmingly low at 24 per cent.

One In Three Asthmatics At Risk Of Life-Threatening Attack

More than a third of people with asthma are at risk of having a potentially fatal asthma attack, new research suggests.

Over 30,000 people completed Asthma UK’s online test, the Triple A: Avoid Asthma Attacks test, which helps people determine their likelihood of having an asthma attack and tells them how to reduce the risk.

The charity found that 55 per cent of respondents did not think they were at increased risk; however, 93 per cent were actually found to be at increased or highly increased risk of having an attack.

When they were contacted six weeks after completing the test, 36 per cent said they had taken steps to avoid their asthma triggers and 85 per cent claimed they would recommend the test to others.

Neil Churchill, Asthma UK’s chief executive, said: ‘It’s extremely worrying that many people with asthma do not realise their own risk of ending up in hospital.  As up to 75 per cent of emergency hospital admissions are preventable with better management and support, it’s vitally important people understand their asthma and crucial that they are supported by healthcare professionals who can help them to reduce their risk.

NHS And Facebook Team Up To Boost Organ Donation

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and Facebook have announced a new collaboration to encourage people to sign up to the organ donor register.

At present, people with Facebook’s new ‘timeline’ feature can add various life events to their profile for others to see.  Now, users can click a new health and wellbeing button that includes their intention to become an organ donor.

It is hoped that by witnessing people’s plans to donate their organs after death, others will be encouraged to do likewise, as more than 30 million people in the UK alone use Facebook.

They can do this by visiting NHSBT’s Facebook page to sign up to the organ donor register and officially register their wishes.