Thursday 25 August 2016

We must make the most of Alzheimer’s disease research – Professor Alistair Burns and Professor Martin Rossor

We must make the most of Alzheimer’s disease research – Professor Alistair Burns and Professor Martin Rossor We recently wrote about the challenge for dementia clinical services if immunotherapy for Alzheimer’s disease proves to be successful.

It is important to plan for the future but there is some thinking and planning to be done before we arrive there.

The focus of research has shifted significantly away from established and moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease to the much earlier stages of the illness and in some cases when symptoms are very mild or even absent. People have called this “Prodromal” Alzheimer’s disease or “Asymptomatic” Alzheimer’s disease. NHS England

Health in a hurry: the impact of rush hour commuting on our health and wellbeing

Health in a hurry: the impact of rush hour commuting on our health and wellbeing This report highlights the impact of passive commuting (via rail, bus or car) on the public's health and wellbeing. The report outlines how longer commute times are associated with increased stress, higher blood pressure and BMI and contributes to reduced time available for health promoting activities such as cooking, exercise and sleeping. The report calls for a greater adoption of flexible and remote working and greater restrictions on unhealthy food and drinks outlets in stations. Royal Society for Public Health

See also:

Guide for clinical audit leads

Guide for clinical audit leads This guide is intended to support clinicians who are responsible for leading clinical audit in clinical services and at senior levels in healthcare organisations. This is an update to the previous guide for clinical audit leads which was published by HQIP in 2011. Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership

Rotavirus infections 'greatly reduced' since vaccine

Rotavirus infections 'greatly reduced' since vaccine Rotavirus infections have fallen by 84% in England since a vaccine has been offered to young babies, figures from Public Health England suggest. BBC News

Experts say stronger MDMA and ecstasy is causing 'more mental issues'

Experts say stronger MDMA and ecstasy is causing 'more mental issues' There's a warning that increasingly strong ecstasy and MDMA is causing the biggest risk to users' mental health in decades.

Ecstasy is getting stronger and experts are worried the negative effects the drug has on people are getting worse.

Professor Philip Murphy has been researching the drug for nearly 20 years and says he's worried about the supply currently on the market.

"The danger is much greater now than it was in the late 1990s," he says.

"The risk now of young people using stronger ecstasy is higher in terms of being able to regulate emotion and your ability to think clearly." BBC News

CCGs rated best and worst for tackling health inequalities

CCGs rated best and worst for tackling health inequalities New indicators have revealed large variation in CCGs’ performance in tackling health inequalities in their area, which are said to have led to 264,000 excess hospitalisations over the past financial year.

The indicators of how well the NHS is tackling health inequality across the country have now been adopted by the NHS and have just been rolled out as part of the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework, launched earlier this year.

They focus on emergency hospitalisation for patients with long-term conditions such as dementia, diabetes, respiratory and heart diseases, and are designed to help local NHS managers reduce potentially avoidable A&E admissions arising from social inequality. OnMedica

Defence body calls for early help to cut GP legal costs

Defence body calls for early help to cut GP legal costs GPs need urgent help with their legal costs which are spiraling upwards, according to the UK-wide defence organisation the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS).

The plea comes as early results from the MDDUS’s annual report that have been made public, show that there was a 16.4% rise in the past year in the number of claims for clinical negligence made against its GP members and a 22% rise for all doctors. OnMedica

See also:

NHS needs EU employees to avoid collapse, says thinktank

NHS needs EU employees to avoid collapse, says thinktank Institute of Public Policy Research says EU nationals who have lived in Britain for six years should get automatic citizenship

The NHS would collapse without its 57,000 workers who are EU nationals and they must be offered free British citizenship so they don’t leave the country after Brexit, according to a leading thinktank.

The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) says in a report released on Thursday the concessions to EU nationals living in Britain are needed to prevent a post-Brexit brain-drain of talent harming the economy. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

Home cooks serving rare burgers are putting millions at risk of food poisoning, FSA warns

Home cooks serving rare burgers are putting millions at risk of food poisoning, FSA warns Home cooks are putting millions of Britons at risk because they believe burgers can be left pink in the middle, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned.

Almost a third of Britons incorrectly believe that eating a rare burger is the same as a rare steak when it comes to food poisoning risk.

Despite almost three quarters of people worrying about food poisoning, 36 per cent admit they would eat a burger that is not fully cooked through and more than one in 10 said they actually preferred them this way, a survey for the FSA found. The Daily Telegraph

See also: