ProNurse

By Clint Witchalls Kick boxing twice a week, walking the dog two miles every day - Clint Witchalls thought he was healthy. Then a visit to the doctor revealed he was dangerously overweight... I've never really thought of myself as fat, but at a recent fitness assessment I was told I'm "pre-obese". I was shocked. How can I be pre-obese ...

By Rebecca McQuillan People with serious mental health problems are inappropriately being told they are fit to work following assessments for a key sickness and disability benefit. In one case, a man in his 30s diagnosed with depression, anxiety and a sleeping disorder, and with a history of self-harm when anxious, took an overdose and was admitted to hospital after ...

By Mark Aitken Political Editor A hacker attack on the health records of Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond has sparked a huge security alert. Confidential computer files on the Prime Minister and Holyrood's First Minister were illegally targeted along with the records of scores of other high-profile Scots. We can reveal former Labour leader Jack McConnell and his culture chief ...

By Kevin Braddock There is a new buzzword in foot care: Orthotics. The science of treating deformities and abnormalities in the muscular- skeletal system - traditionally associated with ungainly corrective footwear - has been given a hightech makeover. Now, off-the-shelf or custom-made insoles worn in shoes to correct the gait (walking style) and support weakness in the foot are created ...

By Yvonne Tarleton They are urgently needed in overstretched hospitals across the country. But Irish nursing graduates - despite the enormous expense of educating them - are being left unemployed because of the HSE's ban on recruitment. And the British health service is only too happy to welcome them as Ireland faces a nursing brain drain. Despite the recession in ...

The Department of Health is sponsoring the development of a new, on-line assessment tool.  The tool will be available to help Higher Education Institutions select individuals on to pre-registration degree/diploma programmes, as well as to help recruit registered nurses. Mendas Ltd, the firm of Occupational Psychologists developing it, are seeking volunteers to complete the on-line tool.   No prior experience or particular knowledge of ...

By Roger Dobson Antibiotics are being investigated as a new way to treat chronic lower back pain. It's thought that up to one in four cases may actually be caused by infection and not by mechanical problems such as poor posture or improper lifting. In a Danish study, more than half the patients were either cured or much improved after ...

By David Delvin Don't go rushing to your doctor, don't take to your bed for days - and do get to know your sacro-iliac joints. Dr David Delvin exposes the myths about lumbar pain and explains what really works Every day of the year, the number of Britons who are off work with back pain would fill London's new Olympic ...

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 Mark Williamson A raft of survey data last week provided ammo for the optimists who believe that the economy will start growing again this year, although these have been treated with derision in some quarters. News from The Halifax that house prices increased by 2.6 per cent month on month in May, combined with the first positive reading since ...

By Jeremy Laurance What does your GP really think of his patients? Medic and comedian Dr Phil Hammond reveals all to Jeremy Laurance There is, says Phil Hammond, something missing from medicine. It is pleasure. Pleasure gets just two mentions in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, and none whatever on the website of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). ...

The latest cost cutting measures for the NHS has been announced by Weconu, the famous consultancy firm and nurses will be hardest hit. The latest ‘genius brainwave’ takes inspiration from the popular social network Twitter, where all conversations have to be 140 characters or less. SVP of Weconu, I Conu proudly announced the new rational at a glittering 10 course banquet ...

By Rob Sharp Fat around the midriff is not only unsightly, but potentially deadly - and it's notoriously hard to shift. Rob Sharp meets two doctors who think they've found the answer Pot-bellies, paunches, muffin tops and love handles. Comical descriptions of belly fat belie the profundity of its health risks. A September 2009 study published in The International Journal ...

By Martin Willimas A catalogue of failings allowed a nurse to murder four frail patients, according to a hard-hitting report. Staff nurse Colin Norris from Glasgow gave the elderly women fatal doses of the diabetes drug insulin while they were being treated at two Leeds hospitals. According to an NHS Yorkshire and the Humber independent inquiry report, problems including relatives' ...

By Laura Donnelly, Patrick Sawer and Alastair Jamieson The three hospitals with the highest patient death rates in the country can be named today, amid a deepening crisis over the standard of care in the NHS. Basildon, Bolton and Greater Manchester NHS trusts have elite "foundation status". However, The Sunday Telegraph has learned that statistics to be published this week ...

For women with a genetic predisposition for breast cancer, radiation from annual mammograms may increase breast cancer risk, Dutch researchers said. Marijke C. Jansen-van der Weide of the University Medical Center in Groningen, the Netherlands, said women who are at high risk for breast cancer need to begin screening at a younger age, because they often develop cancer earlier than ...

Most of the time we concentrate on bringing you the best nursing career advice, but occasionally we drift into what we tend to claim as stress relief. After all nursing is a career that can be mentally as well as physically draining. However, in this case it is all about us. As many of you will know we have a sister ...

By Mark Hennessy Hospital staff in England are badly trained to deal with dementia patients, and British government plans to improve care over the next five years must be "urgently" reviewed, a top audit body warned yesterday. Dementia affects more than half a million people in England alone, and the numbers will double over the next 30 years, while the ...

By Jeremy Laurance Mobile phones may improve memory and protect against Alzheimer's disease, scientists have discovered. In one of the most unexpected scientific findings for some time, researchers have found that the electromagnetic waves emitted by the devices may improve cognitive function. After years of health warnings about mobile phones, scientists in Florida admit they were as surprised as anyone ...