There seems to be so much “health” news about today I thought I would use the “snippets” format today.
I see that “Sir” Liam Donaldson is to retire in May next year, probably just before the election as it is always wiser to hedge one’s bets.
“Sir” Liam of course will be remembered for his smoking in public places ban, which has been a success, apart that is from destroying the Pub trade.
He has recently called for England to adopt an opt out system of organ donation, where people are presumed to have consented to donation unless they registered their objections in advance.
Sir Liam, 60, intended to retire from the post earlier this year but agreed to stay on when the swine flu pandemic emerged.
He will stand down in May unless the swine flu pandemic worsens.
A replacement will be announced in due course, a spokesman for the Department of Health said.
He was also the mastermind of the shake-up of junior doctors' training and there were calls for his resignation following the chaos of its introduction.
He will join the ranks of the ex-knobs which includes “Lord” Ara Darzi, who managed to make “quality of treatment” for patients a byword for spend billions and get thousands of managers, clinics that are failing and.....
A hospital has been accused by a coroner of "gross negligence" after a 10-year-old boy died following a seven hour wait for an ambulance.
Kieran Howard, from Fordcombe, Kent, was taken to three hospitals after emergency staff failed to diagnose the severity of his condition, Southwark Coroner's Court heard.
Doctors were aware there was potentially a problem with the child's brain, but the boy sill had to wait 12 hours to receive a scan which would have allowed a diagnosis and meant life-saving surgery could have gone ahead.
Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said there was a "four hour window of opportunity" after the boy's eyes had become fixed and dilated to perform surgery which likely would have saved his life.
She described the Pembury doctors failures to check his eyes as "gross negligence" and "neglect".
And: A two-year-old boy died after paramedics failed to notice the severity of an injury to his head, an inquest heard.
Lewis Urmson-Brown banged his head on the ground whilst in his father's arms after he stumbled walking on a playground near their home in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Lewis's mother, Michelle Urmson, 39, collapsed in court after describing how her son seemed floppy and pale after returning from the park with her partner Chris Brown.
After Lewis died both parents were arrested and questioned on suspicion of murder only to be exonerated by police when the full facts emerged.
The couple, who have two other children, told Warrington Coroner's Court how they called an ambulance after the fall and waited anxiously for Lewis to be examined on June 19 last year.
But when two paramedics arrived they decided within minutes his injuries were superficial and hospital treatment was not needed.
Eight hours later Mrs Urmson woke to find Lewis unconscious and frothing at the mouth.
An ambulance crew rushed him to Warrington General Hospital where doctors tried in vain to resuscitate him and he died a short while later.
Or even: A three-year-old boy died of tonsillitis because of a 'gross failure' by an out-of-ours GP service, an inquest heard.
Joseph Seevaraj, died after his parents phoned their local service to insist a doctor visit their son, who was suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea complications arising from the bug.
But they were told to wait for the medication to work during the 11pm call after the lad had been prescribed antibiotics when advised to go to hospital two days earlier.
He was found dead by his mum and dad Nicola and Jean at their home in Hove, East Sussex, the next morning on January 20 this year.
Brighton and Hove Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley described errors made in his treatment as "total and complete" at a hearing on Thursday.
The coroner said: "He needed basic medical attention. The failure to provide it was gross failure. I am satisfied there is a clear connection between this gross failure and his death."
How about this: Cancer sufferers living in the most deprived parts of England are up to five per cent less likely to beat the disease, official figures show.
A report from the Office for National Statistics reveals that patients in the 62 worst off areas in the country had a lower chance of survival five years after diagnosis than those in more affluent communities.
The largest difference was seen in women suffering from bladder cancer.
And this: Britain spends less on medicines than similar countries making it the 'poor man of Europe', a report has said.
Britain spends less than half that of Greece, Portugal and Spain on medicines, the report from the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry, the trade association for companies making prescription drugs said.
As a proportion of gross domestic product Britain spends one per cent on medicines, compared with 2.32 per cent in Greece, 2.17 per cent in Portugal and two per cent in France.
And finally this: Junior doctors could be swapped for nurses as hospitals face losing money for medical training, in a shake-up ordered by the Department of Health.
Patients could be put at risk as a review of the way junior doctors' salaries are paid could mean hospitals are forced to employ fewer doctors and rely more on nurses and other professionals, medical leaders warned.
Currently the Department of Health pays for the doctor's time spent training to be a consultant or GP and the hospital trust pays for their time treating patients.
But payments vary with some training posts being paid for entirely out of central funds and others being split 50:50 between the Department of Health and the trust where the doctor works.
Proposals to make the system fairer will see some hospitals lose substantial amounts of money, leading to warnings they may be forced to employ fewer junior doctors and replace them with nurses instead.
Officials said the Department of Health spends £1.6 billion a year on training junior doctors and dentists in England and this will not change.
It comes as the NHS is having to find efficiency savings of between £15 billion and £20 billion over three years as the large budget increases come to an end and the government seeks to reduce the national debt.
I could go on, but I am getting depressed by all this and may have to go off and slash my wrists if I carry on, plus the fact that I wouldn’t give the “powers that be” the pleasure.
Angus
Angus Dei on all and sundry
AnglishLit
Angus Dei politico
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