Bone strength is set in childhood so better park access could prevent fractures in older people, study finds
Children with more green space near their homes have significantly stronger bones, a study has found, potentially leading to lifelong health benefits.
Scientists found that the children living in places with 20-25% more natural areas had increased bone strength that was equivalent to half a year’s natural growth.
Continue reading...Authorities believe extreme heat and physical activity, rather than a single bad batch, exacerbated drug’s impact at Hardmission
All nine people hospitalised after a mass drug overdose at an electronic music festival in Melbourne last weekend suffered severe hyperthermia, with three people remaining in a critical condition.
Another woman in her 30s was hospitalised on Friday after a suspected drug overdose at a separate music festival in the Melbourne suburb of Flemington. She remains in a critical condition.
Victorian health authorities believe the overdoses at last weekend’s Hardmission festival were not caused by a single bad batch of the drug MDMA as originally feared and that extreme heat and physical activity exacerbated the drug’s impact.
Resurgence classified as grade 3 emergency by WHO, with southern Africa and Haiti among those hardest hit
Cholera cases soared last year, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organization, which recorded 4,000 cholera deaths and 667,000 cases globally.
The numbers surpassed that of 2022, and the WHO has classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency, its highest internal health emergency level.
Continue reading...Experts say being discharged prematurely can be ‘disastrous’, setting back chances of full recovery
Thousands of patients are being readmitted to NHS mental health units in England every year soon after being discharged, raising concerns about poor care, bed shortages and increased risk of suicide.
Experts say being discharged prematurely can be upsetting, set back the patient’s chances of making a full recovery and be “disastrous” for their health.
Continue reading...Stephen Bradshaw, former Post Office investigator, tells Horizon IT inquiry this was ‘probably not’ appropriate
Back at the Post Office inquiry Julian Blake says Stephen Bradshaw, the Post Office investigator, seems to show a “lack of reflection” on his role in miscarriage of justice events in a witness statement he supplied.
Bradshaw says he has reflected on what he said in his statement, because some of what he said was “completely wrong”. But he says he was told what he should say by lawyers.
Stephen Bradshaw, who was an investigation manager for the Post Office, said a statement signed by him declaring the Post Office’s “absolute confidence” in the Horizon IT system was written by lawyers.
A statement signed by Bradshaw in November 2012 said: “The Post Office continues to have absolute confidence in the robustness and integrity of its Horizon system.”
The average response time in December for ambulances in England dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was 8min 44sec, PA says. This is up from 8min 32sec in November and is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.
Ambulances took an average of 45min 57sec last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis, PA says. This is up from 38min 30sec in November, while the target is 18min.
Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged 2hr 37min 5sec in December, up from 2hr 16min 47secin November, PA says.
Some 13% of ambulance handovers in England last week, or 12,225 patients, were delayed by more than an hour, PA says. This was up from 12% a week earlier, but is below this winter’s current peak of 15%, recorded in the week to 10 December.
Nearly one in three patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England last week waited more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams, PA says. Some 28,189 delays of half an hour or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts in the week to 7 January. This was 31% of the 91,234 arrivals by ambulance, where the handover time was known. The figure is up from 29% in the previous week, but is not the highest so far this winter, which was 34% in the week ending 10 December, PA says.
Continue reading...‘Heat culture’ of Spain helps communities prepare for hot weather events in the same way they plan for the arrival of cyclones
Australia should follow the Spanish city of Seville and start naming its heatwaves as part of a suite of measures to help communities cope with the rising risks from extreme temperatures, according to a new report.
Naming heatwaves could be part of enabling a “heat culture” where communities prepare for extreme temperature events in the same way they plan for the arrival of named cyclones, the report said.
Continue reading...Rates for lung, liver, brain, oesophageal, pancreatic and stomach cancers worse than in most comparable nations
The UK has some of the worst cancer survival rates in the developed world, according to new research.
Analysis of international data by the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce found that five-year survival rates for lung, liver, brain, oesophageal, pancreatic and stomach cancers in the UK are worse than in most comparable countries. On average, just 16% of UK patients live for five years with these cancers.
Continue reading...Separate study finds women who are depressed in pregnancy more likely to die prematurely
The number of women who have died during pregnancy or soon after has risen sharply to its highest levels for 20 years, prompting concern from experts.
The maternal death rate increased to 13.41 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies between 2020 and 2022, according to figures published by the MBRRACE-UK investigation into maternal deaths in the UK. The figure was 8.79 in the period 2017 to 2019.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Labour leader hits out at perceived criticism as he attacks Tory record on child health
Keir Starmer has said he is “up for the fight” of defending the “nanny state” as he announced plans to improve child health under a Labour government, including supervised toothbrushing in schools.
The Labour leader said that children were “probably the biggest casualty” of the Tories’ sticking-plaster approach to politics over the past 14 years, adding that, if the government were a parent, they could be charged with neglect.
Continue reading...Royal College of Physicians urges government to introduce new law amid rising damp, mould and leaks in social housing
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has called on Michael Gove to accelerate a promised crackdown on landlords failing to fix tens of thousands of mouldy homes with a warning that unless laws are toughened many more people will die from the effects.
As the housing ombudsman reported increasing failures among landlords to properly tackle damp, mould and leaks in England’s social housing, Prof Sir Stephen Holgate, special adviser on air quality to the RCP, warned of widening ill-health as more people inhale fungal toxins.
Continue reading...US biotech firm designs cheaper, less invasive multi-cancer screening test it says could be ‘gamechanger’
Scientists have developed a simple DNA test that can identify 18 early-stage cancers that experts say could represent a medical “gamechanger”.
Cancer accounts for one in every six deaths worldwide, but early detection can significantly improve outcomes. Existing screening tests have drawbacks, including invasiveness, cost and low levels of accuracy for early stage disease.
Continue reading...Cleanbill report reveals national rate of bulk billing dropped 11% last year to 23.6%, with 514 clinics removing the service
Fewer than one in four Australian general practices provide bulk billing to all patients, with more than 500 clinics switching to private billing in the past year, according to a new report.
Online healthcare directory Cleanbill on Monday released its Blue Report providing data on the rates of bulk billing – where the full cost of a consultation is paid for by Medicare without any additional gap fees – across 6,818 practices.
Continue reading...Eight people were in induced comas after the Hardmission event at Flemington on Satuday
The suspected MDMA overdoses at a Melbourne music festival that left eight young people in medically induced comas over the weekend has sparked renewed calls for nationwide pill-testing programs.
Harm reduction and social justice advocates, and the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA), were among those urging state governments to legalise pill-testing, saying the scale of the overdoses highlight the urgency of the issue.
This article was amended on 8 January 2024 after Ambulance Victoria clarified that eight people were in induced comas, not seven.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Review by Michael Marmot decries 'shocking political failure’ behind differing life expectancies across country
More than 1 million people in England died prematurely in the decade after 2011 owing to a combination of poverty, austerity and Covid, according to “shocking” new research by one of the UK’s leading public health experts.
The figures are revealed in a study by the Institute of Health Equity at University College London led by Sir Michael Marmot. They demonstrate the extent to which stark economic and social inequalities are leading to poorer people dying early from cancer, heart problems and other diseases.
Continue reading...Prof Sir Roy Calne performed gamechanging operation in 1968, and was responsible for other surgical ‘world firsts’
Prof Sir Roy Calne, the pioneering surgeon who led a team which performed the first liver transplant in Europe, has died at the age of 93.
On 2 May 1968 Calne performed the gamechanging operation at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, a year after the US’s first successful liver transplant.
Continue reading...Ambulance Victoria says woman and baby taken to hospital after incident in town of Ocean Grove
A newborn baby is in a critical condition in hospital after being delivered in an apparent “freebirth” in regional Victoria.
The medical industry has expressed concern about the practice, which is typically characterised as a birth without help from a healthcare professional.
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Continue reading...Pedro, five, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma; a fund has been set up so that his family can afford expensive chemotherapy drug
Leading artists, Indigenous activists and politicians across Brazil are urging people to contribute to a fund to help the son of the slain Amazon activist Bruno Pereira, who has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
Pedro Pereira, five, the son of anthropologist Beatriz Matos and Bruno Pereira – who was ambushed and killed in the western Amazon in June 2022 alongside the British journalist Dom Phillips – was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma last year.
Continue reading...State will be first to import drugs under federal program that Florida governor says could save consumers $150m in first year
A public health policy that won rare backing from both the Biden and Trump administrations looks ready to open a flow of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada to Florida, ending a decades-long block on the importation of certain pharmaceuticals to the US.
The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the state approval under a drugs importation program that seeks to lower the cost of medicines for US consumers without imposing additional risks to their health or safety.
Continue reading...Researchers report drop in incidents of incivility among staff at facilities with eye signs on the walls, but say further measures are needed
Researchers have found a unique way to tackle “sexist” and “humiliating” behaviour by surgeons in operating rooms across Australia.
It is “not uncommon” for surgeons to describe fellow medical staff in the operating theatre as “incompetent”, to roughly grab surgical instruments or to discredit nurses, says Rose Petrohilos, a junior doctor and intern representative for Bairnsdale Regional Health Service.
Continue reading...Row breaks out on first day of NHS’s longest ever stoppage as requests to return to work rejected
Junior doctors’ leaders have said they are prepared to stage yet more strikes after the longest stoppage in NHS history, as health leaders warned that this week’s action alone could cripple the health service until spring.
The dire warnings came as Rishi Sunak faced fresh pressure over his pledge to reduce waiting times. Since he made his vow exactly a year ago, the list has gone up, not down – and by 500,000, official figures reveal.
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