NAPC News In Brief 1 July 2009

Gold Status To Rank NHS Hospitals Like Michelin System

The best hospitals in the country are to be awarded ‘gold standard’ status in a system similar to the one that awards Michelin stars for restaurants.  An accreditation scheme recognizing the best clinical teams within the NHS, and showing how they compare with leading hospitals in the US and on the Continent is being drawn up to improve the quality of care.

The scheme was announced on the first anniversary of the publication of High Quality Care For All, Professor Darzi’s review of NHS reforms for the next decade.  Other measures to improve the work of the health service include a national commitment to clinician budgets, giving doctors and nurses greater control over hospital finances.

NHS Failing To Provide Care For Million Diabetics

According to an audit by its Information Centre, six out of 10 diabetics are not getting the recommended care on the NHS.   Patients are not getting key checks on cholesterol, blood sugar and body mass index, as well as eye and foot examinations, according to its report.,

The problem is affecting 852,000 people living with diabetes in England.

Cancer Drugs’ Cost Effectiveness Queried

A study conducted by Tito Fojo, of the US National Cancer Institute, has concluded that treating a lung cancer patient with Erbitux prolongs survival for less than two months.  Other big sellers such as Avastin and Nexavar also proved questionable in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Prescribe Statins To Those At Risk At 40

Statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs, should be prescribed to millions of people over 40 even if they do not have heart disease, research suggests.  A review of data on more than 70,000 patients found that the drugs could reduce the risk of heart attacks by 30 per cent.

The study published in the British Medical Journal, found that the drugs could reduce the risk of death by 12 per cent and stroke by 19 per cent.

Jasper Brugts of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, who led the study, said that it was likely that a considerable number of people would benefit from long-term statin use at reasonable costs.

All_Purpose Embryo Gene Screening By Autumn

A universal genetic test for embryos that can screen for almost any inherited disease is to be offered to prospective parents within months, after research demonstrated its effectiveness for the first time. Successful pre-clinical experiments in Britain and the US have shown that the technique can detect DNA defects in embryos with great accuracy. 

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is expected to clear the research team to start treating patients in the autumn.  The test, eveloped by Professor Alan Handyside, of the Bridge Clinic in London, promises to help families affected by inherited illnesses, such as cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy, to have healthy children.  It is capable of identifying any of the 15,000 known genetic disorders, only two per cent of which can be picked up by existing embryo screening.  It can also identify chromosomal defects that prevent normal development.

Vegetarians Less Likely To Develop Cancer Than Meat Eaters

Fresh evidence from the largest study to date to investigate dietary habits and cancer has concluded that vegetarians are 45% less likely to develop cancer of the blood than meat eaters and are 12% less likely to develop cancer overall.

Co-author, Naomi Allen, from the Cancer Research UK epidemiology unit at Oxford University, said that previous research had found that processed meat might increase the risk of stomach cancer, so their findings  that vegetarians and fish eaters were at lower risk was plausible.  But they did not know why cancer of the blood was lower in vegetarians.

Richard Lowe, the Chief Executive of Eblex, the English beef and lamb executive, said that they thought the link between diet and cancer was complex and as scientists themselves said, more research was needed to see how big a part diet played.

Sex Every Day Improves Sperm And The Chances Of Being A Dad

Daily sex can improve the genetic quality of a man’s sperm and could raise his chances of fathering a child, new research has suggested.  Couples who are trying for a baby are often advised to have sex every other day, so that the man’s sperm count has time to recover, but scientists in Australia have discovered that this may lower some men’s fertility.

A study at Sydney IVF, a centre for infertility treatment, has found that daily sex for  a seven day period substantially improves the genetic quality of sperm, without lowering sperm counts enough to impair infertility.

The findings, which were presented yesterday at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Amsterdam, could also have important implications for couples having IVF

First Child To Die With Swine Flu Had Rare Genetic Disorder

The first child to die in Britain after contracting swine flu had a rare genetic disorder that would have made her more likely than most to catch the disease, it was revealed yesterday.

The girl was born with microvillus inclusion disease which affects cells in the small intestine and causes often life-threatening diarrhoea.

The chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, warned parents not to consider holding ‘swine flu parties’ in the hope that children catching the disease now might build up immunity, in the same way that parents organising ‘chicken pox parties’ have in the past tried to ensure playmates caught that one-off disease at a convenient time.

Scots Blame Drink For 1 In 20 Deaths

Alcohol related illnesses could be responsible for one in 20 deaths in Scotland – twice as many as previously thought, according to the Holyrood government, which wanted to set a minimum price for alcohol.

BMA Warning

In a speech at the British Medical Association (BMA) conference, chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, urged politicians not to treat the NHS like a toy that could be cast aside, when they grew tired of it.  Dr Meldrum went on to complain about targets, privatization of health services, and the ‘bullying’ of whistle blowing staff.

Meanwhile, the BMA General Practice Committee’s (GPC) Chairman, Dr Laurence Buckman, commented on the results of the GP patient survey, which, for the first time, will reduce payments for doctors who receive negative responses, saying that it would unfairly penalize GPs.

Most general practices around the country are expected to suffer losses, some as much as £25,000, following the results of the survey.  The GP patient survey, the first to penalize financially doctors who receive negative responses, is expected to cost practitioners more than £10 million and in the worst cases could force cutbacks such as staff redundancies.  Practices that receive less than 60 per cent of positive responses in the two key questions would sacrifice all the money available as part of the quality and outcomes framework.  The GPC has predicted an average-sized practice could face losses of £7,500, while larger lists could lose more than £10,000.  Hundreds of practices are expected to appeal.

The Department of Health said the survey had been agreed with stakeholders, while David Stout, Primary Care Trusts Network (PCTN) director at the NHS Confederation , said that if the survey was overzealous then the Government would want to look at it in the cold light of day and if it needed to be re-examined, it would be.

 Couples Go To Continent For IVF

Research led by University College Hospital in London suggests older women could be putting their health at risk by going abroad for IVF treatment they could not get in Britain.  The survey is the first attempt to quantify the phenomenon of ‘IVF tourism’ and looked at foreign patients treated in clinics in six countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.

Most patients were from Italy (31.8 per cent) with UK patients – mostly over 40- years old – sixth in the list (4.3 per cent).   Presenting the results at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam, Dr Francoise Shenfield, who ran the study, said access was a big reason for women in the UK.  It was very difficult for them to get funding for patients over the age of 39. When they were 39 or 40 women were stuck.  Britain was bad for access.

Alzheimer’s Disease As Serious As Cancer

A group of medical charities warned that Britain faces unmitigated disaster unless the Government increased spending on dementia research.

Currently 2 per cent of the Government’s research budget is spent on dementia compared to a third for cancer and the charities predicted that the number of people with dementia would top one million within the next decade.

Cyclists Should Freeze Sperm

A study from the University of Cordoba Medical School in Spain advises male cyclists to freeze their sperm if they want to have a family later in life.

The researchers believe the friction and heat from the saddle can damage sperm and even recreational cyclists should take ‘protective’ measures.

The study looked at 15 triathletes and found that fewer than one in ten of their sperm could be classified as normal while among men who cycled 180 miles a week the count fell to less than four in 100.