Press release: Stop the rot: new campaign highlights how cigarettes ‘rot’ the body from the inside

Press release: Stop the rot: new campaign highlights how cigarettes ‘rot’ the body from the inside

Today (29 December 2014), Public Health England (PHE) launches a powerful new campaign to highlight how smoking damages the body and causes a slow and steady decline in a process similar to rotting.

The campaign starts as a new expert review commissioned by Public Health England highlights the multiple impacts that toxic ingredients in cigarettes can have on your body. While many smokers know that smoking causes cancer and harms the lungs and heart, the new report highlights how it also damages:
bones and muscles: smoking has a negative impact on bone mineral density, and causes progressive harm to the musculoskeletal system, including:
25% increased risk of any fracture, and a 40% increase in the risk of hip fractures among men
slower healing after injury
increased risk of back and neck pain, leading to a 79% increase in chronic back pain, and a 114% increase in disabling lower back pain
rheumatoid arthritis, and a reduction in the impact of treatment

brain: current smokers are 53% more likely to develop cognitive impairment than non-smokers, and 59% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease

teeth: smoking increases the likelihood of tooth loss and decay
eyes: smoking damages sight by increasing the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 78% to 358%, and increasing the risk of age-related cataracts

With New Year’s resolutions approaching and two-thirds of smokers saying they want to quit, new adverts are being used to graphically illustrate the degeneration that smoking causes.

England’s top dementia doctor says “Make cutting back on alcohol your New Year’s resolution”

England’s top dementia doctor says “Make cutting back on alcohol your New Year’s resolution”

NHS England’s top dementia doctor says cutting back on alcohol to protect your mental health is a good 2015 resolution.

Prevention is something everyone can help with as the NHS tackles the growing issue of dementia, says Professor Alistair Burns, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Dementia.

He said a number of research studies* showed significant relationships between alcohol and the onset of dementia.

Most studies suggest drinking large amounts of alcohol increases the risk of dementia.

And today he highlighted a guide to avoiding dementia and the signs and symptoms to look out for.

Cutting down on alcohol can reduce people’s chances of developing dementia.

“The New Year is the perfect chance for us all to consider our lifestyles and think if there is anything we can improve or change to increase our healthiness – both physical and mental,” he said.

“While stopping drinking altogether isn’t a reality for many people, cutting down can make a huge difference. However, it can be very easy for one glass to lead to two and then to a bottle and this can seriously increase you risk of developing dementia in later life along with many other health conditions.”

NHS guidelines state that men shouldn’t regularly drink more than three to four units per day and women shouldn’t regularly drink more than two to three units per day. One unit is roughly equivalent to half a beer or a small glass of wine.

Currently 375,000 people in England have a diagnosis of dementia out of the 683,000 estimated to have the condition.

NHS England, in parallel with the Prime Minister’s Challenge on dementia, has an ambition that two thirds of people with dementia will have a diagnosis and post diagnostic support by 2015.

Two thirds is 455,000 which leaves a gap of 80,000 people who need to be identified.

Being a Dementia Friend is not about volunteering or donating money – it is about finding out how to make life a bit better for somebody with dementia. NHS Commissioning

NHS England’s action on obesity

NHS England’s action on obesity

Commenting on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s data in its latest Health At A Glance Europe 2014 report, which shows 24.7 per cent of British adults are obese compared with an average of 16.7 per cent in the rest of Europe, Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England, said: “The ghost of Christmases past reminds us that 20 years ago we didn’t have these problems as a nation. The ghost of Christmases future tells us that if we get our act together – as the NHS, as parents, as schools, the food industry – we can get back in shape.

“Rather than recent daft judgements by the European court practically pretending that obesity is inevitable, in England in 2015 we’re going to start proving that it isn’t.

“That’s why the NHS is going to be funding a new national programme, proven to work, that will offer tens of thousands of people at risk of diabetes proper support to get healthier, eat better and exercise more.

“We know that for people at risk, losing just 5-7% of your weight can cut your chance of diabetes by nearly 60%. If this was a pill we’d be popping it – instead its a well designed programme of exercise, eating well and making smart health choices, and we’re going to start making it available free on the NHS.”

Target drunks, A&E boss urges police

Target drunks, A&E boss urges police

Police should crack down on binge drinking to stop hospital staff becoming distracted by disorderly drunks, a leading doctor says. BBC News

NHS cancels 3,000 operations in two December weeks

NHS cancels 3,000 operations in two December weeks


Figures highlighted by Labour show 3,113 elective and 161 urgent operations were cancelled in first part of month


More than 3,000 operations have been cancelled by the NHS in the first two weeks of this month as an “unprecedented demand” takes its toll.

Figures show 3,113 elective operations were cancelled in that period, up by almost half since 2012. Guardian

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Whooping cough virus 'evolving fast'

Whooping cough virus 'evolving fast'

Whooping cough may be evolving to outsmart the currently used vaccine, say researchers. BBC News

Life choices 'behind many cancers'

Life choices 'behind many cancers'

More than four in 10 cancers - 600,000 in the UK alone - could be prevented if people led healthier lives, say experts. BBC News

NHS hampered by poor management structure, Rose report claims

NHS hampered by poor management structure, Rose report claims


Former M&S chief blames ‘hydra-like’ complexity of system and poor training and development for holding back staff

The NHS is being hampered by an over-complex management structure which is quashing initiative within the service, a delayed government report by the former Marks & Spencer chief Sir Stuart Rose is expected to conclude.

The report was due to be published in November but is now expected early in the new year before the general election and amid growing concerns about the pressures being placed on hospital accident and emergency departments. Guardian

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HSCIC issues info code of practice

HSCIC issues info code of practice

The Health and Social Care Information Centre has released a code of practice on confidential information, outlining how NHS organisations should securely collect, analyse and publish health and social care data. EHI News

NHS England promotes IT in 'to do' list

NHS England promotes IT in 'to do' list

NHS England has urged clinical commissioning groups to start working on the 'roadmaps' that will lead to integrated digital care records by 2018. EHI News

Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan review – lucid account of a flawed hero

Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan review – lucid account of a flawed hero


As Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds’s warts-and-all biography reveals, the father of the NHS was far from being a team player

In the pantheon of Labour heroes, indeed among 20th-century politicians as a whole, Aneurin Bevan enjoys one of the foremost places. His towering achievement was the creation of the National Health Service, which he drove through in the teeth of bitter opposition from both the medical profession and the Tories. To this day his legacy – a health service available to all, free at the point of use – is the one part of the postwar consensus that has survived more or less intact the ravages of Thatcherism and the global market.

But all great men have their flaws and, as this lucid, well-researched biography concedes, Bevan’s were considerable. Although capable of pragmatism and at times courageous he could also be fractious, disloyal and self-indulgent. Arguably, his 1950 resignation from the government over the issue of charges for false teeth and spectacles contributed to the defeat of 1951 and helped to ignite a civil war that rendered Labour impotent in the early 50s. Bevan, according to one of his close friends, was not a team player. Guardian

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The health drink fad we'll all be trying next year birch tree sap

The health drink fad we'll all be trying next year birch tree sap

Birch tree sap holds many potential health and beauty benefits. The watery liquid is tapped from tree trunks in early spring. Professor Barbara Maher (pictured) explains the trees detoxifying capabilities. Mail