NAPC News 11 March 2010

GPs Lead Angry Defence Of London's NHS Services

Doctors and patients were urged to take action against NHS London's plans to dramatically reshape healthcare across the capital at an impassioned open meeting at BMA House last week.

Because of a £5 billion funding shortfall, NHS London plans to close a third of London's hospital beds, move 55 per cent of hospital work into polysystems and close 13 district hospitals.

John Lister of campaigning group, London Health Emergency, described the plans as cranky, weird proposals that will not stand up to scrutiny.

A third of A&E wards are at risk of closure, while investment in 102 polyclinics continues.

GPC chairman, Dr Laurence Buckman, said the proposals would turn a crisis into a disaster for some patients and condemned plans to replace hospitals with polyclinics and polysystems.

Medical Records Go Online Without Consent

The British Medical Association claims that patients' confidential medical records are being placed on a controversial NHS database without their knowledge. Hamish Meldrum , BMA chairman, said the breakneck speed with which this programme was being implemented was of huge concern. Patients' right to opt out was crucial, and it was extremely alarming that records were apparently being created without them being aware of it.

Patient's Body Left In Hospital Bed For Eight Hours

A hospital patient has received an apology after a dead body was left to her bed for what she claims was close to eight hours. Sarah Stevenson said a woman died in bed opposite her at 1pm, and two other patients died over the course of the day. However, porters did not take the three bodies away until visiting hours at 8.30 pm, when the ward was full of tamilies.

Managers at Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital claim the delay in moving the body close to Ms Stevenson was 4.5 hours and was due to the need for specialist equipments.

Virus Kills Prostate Cancer Cells

A Canadian study has injected trial subjects with reovirus in order to determine whether or not the organism was effective in attacking prostate cancer. Analysis of the prostate tissue showed the death of cancer cells in treated tumours. However, there was no sign of the virus replication in non-cancerous areas of the prostate.

The virus is already known to be capable of fighting cancer of the ovaries, breast, pancreas and brain.
The findings were reported in this week's journal, Cancer Research.

Healthy People Can Expect A Sex Life Well Into Sixties

People who stay in good health can enjoy an active sex life well into their sixties and beyond, according to two American studies.

Stacy Tessler Linday and Natalia Gavrilova, who led the research at the University of Chicago, said that the use of treatments for erectile dysfunction, such as Viagra, was likely to have contributed to longer sex lives.

The research found that aged 30, men have a sexually active life expectancy of 35 years, while women can expect another 31 years of sex. But by the age of 55, men in continuing good health can hope for another 15 years, while women generally have another 11 yare of sexual activity.

Woman Denied Pill

A Sheffield pharmacist refused to issue contraceptive pills prescribed by a GP because it was against her religion. NHS Sheffield said it would investigate if a formal complaint was made.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain said the pharmacist was acting within her rights.

Acu Therapy Is Pointless

Experts have warned that couples are wasting time and money trying to conceive with the help of acupuncture. The British Fertility Society has advised that there is currently no evidence that the therapy improves conception rates. Researchers also found nothing to support the use of Chinese herbal remedies to help women get pregnant.

The British Acupuncture Council member, Zita West, a midwife, however said that many women were convince acupuncture made a difference.

Community Care/Social Services

A study by researchers at Loughborough University and commissioned by the Local Government Association, concluded that nearly two thirds of social workers had reported an increase in their workloads in the past six months, with child protection workers now dealing with an average of 14 cases at a time.

Children's services leaders backed the report and warned that councils were already having to cope with additional costs relating to an unexpected post-Baby Peter surge in referrals, child protection plans and court applications to take children into care.

Ark Put Up For Sale

Ark Therapeutics, the gene based medical group, has put itself up for sale after its promising brain tumour treatment failed to gain approval from the European Medicines Agency's scientific advisory group on oncology. The advisory group said that it did not believe a study of Cerepro provided sufficiently reliable evidence of clinical benefit. Ark has withdrawn Cerepro, on the advice that it would require a further costly clinical trial.

The group said that it had initiated a full review of its substantial portfolio assets, their potential and alternative strategies and options to optimise shareholder value.

Sanofi-Merck Merger

Sanofi-Aventis and Merck, its US rival, announced that they would join forces to create the world's biggest animal health company. The combined business would hold 29 per cent of the market with sales of about of $5.3 billion (£3.5 billion), making it the leader in thje sector ahead of Pfizer, the American drugs group.

Merck, desperate to avoid the ire of competition regulators and to lock in its $41bn acquisition of Schering Plough, offloaded half its share in Merial, its animal health joint venture, to partner Sanofi for $4bn. As part of the agreement, Sanofi also bought the option to merge Merial with Intevet, the vet business of Schering Plough, now controlled by Merck.

Analgesics Shown To Raise Risk Of Hearing Loss In Men

Men who regularly take analgesics are up to a third more likely to develop hearing problems, according to research.

Dr Sharon Curhan and colleagues from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Chicag investigated the effects of regular analgesic use in 26,917 men. Previous research had shown that analgesics might harm the cochlea.

After a 20-year follow-up, 3,488 cases of hearing loss were reported in the men in the study group, all of whom were white and aged between 40 and 74. Hearing loss was independently associated with regular use of analgesics aspirin, paracetamol and NSAIDs.

Dr Curhan said that widespread analgesic use and the implications of hearing loss meant the study represented an important public health issue.

Overall in the trial, participants, who took paracetamol twice or more each week, were 38 per cent more likely to develop hearing loss. The risk increased by 32 per cent in regular users of NSAIDs and 13 per cent in regular aspirin users.

The risk was more pronounced in younger men. Men under the age of 50 taking paracetamol regularly had a 99 per cent increased risk of hearing loss. The risk was 33 per cent higher for regular aspirin use and 61 per cent for NSAIDs.

Duration of treatment also affected the risk of hearing loss for paracetamol and NSAIDs but, not for aspirin.

Men who took NSAIDs or paracetamol regularly for over four years were 33 per cent more likely to develop hearing loss than those who did not.

The risk appeared to be additive when taking multiple analgesics, the authors noted. NSAIDs and paracetamol taken together showed the highest risk of any two combinations at 58 per cent increased risk.

Experts Warn On Cost Of Generics

Generic substitution could seriously jeopardise patient wellbeing, doctors and charity leaders have warned.

Primary Care Dermatology Society executive chairman, Dr Stephen Kownacki and primary care nurse practitioner, Deborah Duncan, were among 19 signatories of a letter to the Times, alongside hospital specialists and leading charities.

The cost of generic substitution, allowing pharmacists to switch branded drugs on prescriptions to generic alternatives, could be greater than any saving, the letter warned.

Only the prescribing doctor or nurse knew the patient's medical history, the letter said. Substitutions should never be made without their consent or awareness.

The letter's authors recognised that there were cases where generic prescribing was appropriate, but pointed to clear evidence that, for some medicines, it might be dangerous.