ProNurse

The Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, yesterday described the appalling treatment of patients at Stafford hospital as "ultimately a local failure". This misses the point. For one thing, Stafford is not the only NHS hospital that has put patients' lives at risk in recent years. Basildon and Colchester hospitals were also discovered to have jeopardised safety in 2009. What is more, ...

By Jeremy Laurance Patients were 'routinely neglected', says most savage indictment of NHS trust How hundreds died after basic care was ignored The worst hospital scandal in more than a decade has triggered the biggest review of safety in the NHS since the Labour government came to power. Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, announced an unprecedented five separate reviews of ...

By Enda Feeney One in ten children suffer mental health problems, an expert has warned. And a further one in 50 of our under-18s will also suffer a severe and disabling condition that will merit mental health care. Colman Noctor, a child psychotherapist, said youngsters often develop conditions such as depression, eating disorders and anxiety. 'Many children can take on ...

By Craig Brown Removing the display of sweets in shops and restricting the sale of high-calorie food near schools are among radical government proposals to make Scotland the first country in the world to successfully tackle obesity. In a report launched yesterday, the Scottish Government said the country's obesity problem would cost taxpayers an estimated GBP 3 billion a year ...

By Steve Connor IVF CLINICS are using a radical male infertility treatment far too frequently despite the risk of long-term health problems to the babies conceived, according to one of the technique's pioneers. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection involves injecting individual sperm cells directly into an unfertilised egg to improve the chances of producing a viable embryo which can then be implanted ...

By Jeremy Laurance MPs say alternative medicine diverts funds from more effective treatments The National Health Service should stop funding homeopathy, a Commons committee said yesterday. MPs on the Commons Science and Technology Committee said there was no evidence that the complementary medicine worked. To continue funding it risked harming patients who chose ineffective homeopathic remedies in place of effective ...

By Steve Connor Mass prescription of anti-retroviral drugs could eradicate the disease within 40 years, scientist says 'We are using drugs to save lives, not to stop transmission' Testing everyone at risk of HIV and treating them with anti- retroviral drugs could eradicate the global epidemic within 40 years, according to the scientist at the centre of a radical new ...

By Oona Mashta A costly new drug to treat severe rheumatoid arthritis is now available on the NHS after the manufacturer agreed to pay for the first 12 weeks of treatment - effectively allowing patients to try before they buy. The first new drug for RA in more than a decade, Cimzia is one of a class of drugs called ...

After suffering 18 miscarriages, Angie Baker hardly dared hope that her 19th pregnancy would be successful. But thanks to pioneering treatment, she is a mother at last. Yesterday, as she cuddled her tenweek-old daughter Raiya, she said: 'She's my little miracle. I can't explain how I feel. I'm overwhelmed. It seems like a dream and I still have to pinch ...

By Steve Connor DNA analysis will enable doctors to pinpoint whether treatment is working Doctors may soon be able to tell whether cancer has been successfully eliminated from the body using a sensitive blood test that could dramatically change the way they are able to monitor the recovery of their patients. The blood test, which detects the presence of the ...