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A woman wrongly given the all-clear by a consultant radiologist who misread her breast cancer scan results has died from the disease, it emerged last night. The patient, who has not been named, was one of 28 women whose mammograms were misreported at a hospital in Greater Manchester. She died after the mistake went unnoticed for at least three months. Another woman's breast cancer was only noticed two years after she was given the all-clear, it emerged
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Woman died after cancer 'all clear' - The Independent 2nd February 2007
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Sir Richard Branson announced the latest addition to his music, airline and mobile phone empire yesterday: a bank for stem cells from newborn babies' umbilical cords. The cells, which are collected soon after birth and frozen for storage, are capable of regenerating bone marrow, making them crucial for lifesaving therapies for blood cancers and immune disorders. Future advances in stem cell science may make it possible to use the cells to regrow damaged tissues and organs.But the bank has raised concerns among specialists who fear that midwives and other essential hospital staff may be distracted by the task of collecting cord blood immediately after a birth.
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Branson moves into biotechnology with launch of Virgin stem cell storage bank - The Independent 2nd February 2007
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NHS staff fear burden of Virgin's stem-cell harvest - The Times 2nd February 2007
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Woman dies of cancer after getting all-clear - The Times 2nd February 2007
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Stem cell bank may hold cures of the future - The Telegraph 2nd February 2007
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Virgin's baby stem cell bank opens for business - Daily Mail 1st February 2007
Thousands of doctors have had their detailed membership records wiped out following a huge computer failure in a new IT system built for the British Medical Association. The BMA, main trade union for British doctors, represents more than 138,000 workers around the UK. But the collapse of the system has led to huge numbers of members being removed from its records without their knowledge.
So just what is going on (The limp-wristed regulation of gambling won't work, January 31)? A Labour government, which in the bad old Labour days would have set out to help ordinary people deal with problems of poverty and debt, is happy to encourage more certainty of enlarging poverty and debt, as a libertarian experiment. At a time of growing alcoholism, drug abuse and astronomical debt, with health and social services at full stretch, addiction counselling is the government's answer to anyone silly enough to fall for gambling's temptations.
Newcastle upon Tyne is the noisiest urban area in the country, with sufficiently high decibel levels to cause severe hearing and health problems, a report found. The city topped a traffic noise table with 80.4 decibels, the equivalent to a loud alarm clock ringing in your ear. Torquay was the least noisy, with a relatively tranquil 60 decibels, the level of a normal conversation.
Allergic reactions to hair dyes are increasing as more people use them in an attempt to look fashionable or younger, medical researchers say. Facial swelling and dermatitis are among the risks. More than two thirds of hair dyes contain a chemical called para-phenylenediamine (PPD) and other related substances, which can cause a reaction.
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Doctors urge debate on safety of hair dye - The Telegraph 2nd February 2007
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NHS deficits and this Government’s health reforms mean that patients’ access to specialist dermatologists is being deliberately rationed, even though dermatology services account for less than 2 per cent of the hospital budget. Access to specialist care should be provided on the basis of patients’ needs, but GPs are being forced to treat patients with skin problems themselves or to divert referrals to services that are not run by consultant dermatologists.
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Olympics: Sports doctors in NHS marks start of London's legacy - The Telegraph 2nd February 2007
The first concrete and positive legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games came brilliantly home to roost yesterday, as the National Health Service began taking delivery of its first ever sports doctors. It is an entirely new speciality, free at the point of service to all who need it. These new doctors will deliver health and medals: health for the nation and medals for our athletes. Linked and laudable enough aims, they are made truly exciting by being achievable.
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, yesterday urged GPs to stop pocketing the profits they were making under lucrative new pay deals and start reinvesting the money in their practices. Miss Hewitt said she was in talks with the medical profession to see if she could persuade more family doctors to plough money back into services.
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A primary care trust is considering handing over a major part of its work to a private management company. If Hillingdon Primary Care Trust in north London goes ahead with the plan to put commissioning of services and negotiating contracts into the private sector it will be the first in England to do so. Up to 270 jobs could be affected.
Parents are being warned against paying for keepsake baby scans of their child in the womb. Doctors claim the growing practice of "boutique ultrasonography" could put unborn babies at risk.
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Warning on 'boutique ultrasounds' - BBC Health News 2nd February 2007
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She loathes babies and swears like a trooper. So what happened when Janet Street-Porter spent two weeks in a maternity ward? You'll be surprised, shocked ... and, yes, moved Sitting in the Australian jungle listening to Paul Burrell wittering on about Princess Diana and the Queen's problems with dog poo, getting bitten three times by snakes and having to cook crocodile for supper was a piece of cake compared to spending two weeks in Barnsley Hospital as a nursing auxiliary.
A new cervical cancer screening system in Scotland could be delayed because of security concerns, it is feared. GPs said it was unacceptable that the computer system would allow anyone with a password - including administrative staff - to access smear test results.
Two ambulance paramedics in North Yorkshire have been sacked because they did not respond to a 999 call while on a meal break, the BBC has learned. The two men had been on duty for about six hours during a shift last month when the emergency call came in and they said they were unable to respond.
The UK is discriminating against Kenyans with HIV by insisting that people who want visas be screened for tuberculosis, Aids activists say. Inviolata Mbwavi of the Empowerment Network for People Living with Aids says those with HIV will be most affected by the directive.
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Mental illness benefit claims up - BBC Health News 1st February January 2007
The number of people claiming incapacity benefit because of mental illness has reached an all-time high of 1.1m, say the Conservatives. Figures obtained by the Tories show a huge rise in the numbers of people with drug and alcohol problems or suffering from stress and depression.
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Scientists have devised a blood test for expectant mothers which will predict whether their unborn child has the chromosomal abnormalities which cause Down's syndrome. The test could replace the process of invasive amniocentesis tests, which carry a risk of miscarriage and is worrying for expectant parents, within three years. Two groups of scientists, based in America and Hong Kong, have come up with separate novel solutions to make blood tests possible.
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Scientists move closer to a blood test for Down's - The Times 2nd February 2007
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Russian prosecutors are investigating claims that staff at a hospital gagged babies with tape because they were fed up with hearing them cry. A patient at the hospital in Yekaterinburg, Russia's fifth largest city, reported the case after allegedly hearing the children's muffled cries. She used her mobile phone to film a baby lying in a cot with his mouth taped, while others had dummies taped to their mouths. The children at Hospital Number 15 were all orphans.
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Crying babies 'silenced with tape over mouths' - The Times 2nd February 2007
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A young woman who lost her arm in a motorbike accident has undergone a pioneering surgical technique involving the rerouting of nerves which allows her to feel she is moving her artificial limb with merely the power of thought. Claudia Mitchell is one of only four people in the United States to have undergone the procedure, but the results will give hope to many who have lost a limb. "I just think about moving my hand and elbow and they move," she told her doctors.
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An accurate diagnosis normally requires the doctor examining the patient and maybe tissue samples. An Irish doctor, however, has done it while watching television by spotting that a government minister had a tumour in his cheek. The unnamed surgeon from University Hospital, Galway, was at home with his doctor wife before Christmas. They were following a current affairs programme on RTÉ in which Conor Lenihan, the overseas aid minister, was being interviewed.
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Lavender oil 'may have led to boys developing breasts' - The Times 2nd February 2007
Boys have been warned against using oils or hair gels that contain lavender or tea tree oil after three reported cases of them growing breasts. Researchers in the US believe that the oils may have hormone-like properties that lead to gynaecomastia — the growth of breasts. When the boys stopped using the oils, the breasts disappeared. Writing in New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers say that the repeated use of such oils may disrupt hormonal function.
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Coloured chickens are put on sale at a market in Indonesia, where residents are ignoring a ban on raising domestic poultry that has been imposed to halt the spread of bird flu. The disease has killed six people this year, but health officials who are searching properties in Jakarta, the capital, to check that birds have been slaughtered have been overwhelmed by the workload.
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A school in Ostend called off an anti-smoking campaign after nationwide protests over a plan to make students wear a badge carrying an image of a diseased lung if they lit up on school premises.
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A woman fitted with the world's first "bionic arm" controlled by thought alone has been given back a sense of feeling. Claudia Mitchell, 26, a former US marine, regained the ability to carry out simple tasks such as cutting up food when she was fitted with the prosthetic arm last year.
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A widespread ban has come into force in France on smoking in workplaces. People lighting up in airports, railway stations, hospitals, schools, shops and offices will face fines. Restaurants and bars have until December to comply.
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'Anti-Aids gel' trial is stopped - BBC Health News 1st February 2007
Clinical trials of a new drug designed to help prevent women contracting the Aids virus have been stopped. The World Health Organization said the drug, which uses a microbicidal gel, did not help the women and made them more vulnerable.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
A MERSEYSIDE hospital trust has been named as one of the worst in the country for dealing with complaints from patients. The Healthcare Commission will today reveal that it referred 59% of complaints made about Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust back to the trust after concluding the complaints warranted further action.
HEALTH officials in Knowsley are asking what kind of GPs patients want before they write their job adverts. Knowsley PCT has been given a £1.5m grant to take on 12 new doctors.
A SCHOOLGIRL’S death has led to the overhaul of a Merseyside out-of-hours GP service. Siobhan Tremain died from a viral heart condition after her mother made repeated calls to the Wirral service.
HOSPITAL meals at Ormskirk Hospital can cost as little as 70 pence – but they are nutritional and filling, say catering bosses. When our sister paper the Midweek Advertiser ran a story in December about the how much hospitals spend on their catering, Southport & Ormskirk NHS Trust’s statistics didn’t appear impressive.
EXECUTIVES at the debt-ridden Southport and Ormskirk Hospital Trust have gone against the team brought into overhaul their finances by refusing to cut cleaning costs. The Turnaround Team sent to Southport and Ormskirk Hospital to sort out its ailing finances told it to reduce the amount spent on the vital service to help wipe out its £15m debt.
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UNISON walk out over cuts to the NHS - Warrington Guardian 1st February 2007
UNION members gathered outside Hollins Park last Wednesday to raise awareness about NHS cuts. The event was one of several across the region organised to highlight the strength of local feeling against threatened closures and cutbacks to services.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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A CUMBRIAN Euro MP is calling for a new law to allow doctors to help the terminally ill to end their lives. It follows the results of a new survey, showing that a large majority of Britons support such legislation in principle.
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Girl, 11, treated for meningitis in Carlisle - Carlisle News & Star 1st February 2007
A SCHOOLGIRL is recovering at home after being treated for meningitis at hospital in Carlisle. Sophie Tedham, 11, of Langholm, complained of a severe headache during last Thursday night. Her mum Amy then noticed spots on her stomach and back.
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Greater Manchester News
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IT was left to a hospital porter to put a wrist band on a decomposing corpse - an ordeal that has shocked Health Minister Andy Burnham. Leigh MP Mr Burnham spoke to the worker during a fact-finding visit to Tameside General.
A £1.3 MILLION bid for money to treat more critically ill patients at the Royal Bolton Hospital has been lodged with health chiefs. Bosses at the hospital want to add two additional high dependency unit beds and an extra intensive care bed to the existing wards.
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HOSPITAL staff are being reassured their jobs are safe despite plans to transfer routine testing out of the NHS. NHS North West, in charge of the region's health care, is in talks with two companies to open at least six Clinical Assessment, Treatment and Support (CATS) centres across Greater Manchester.
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Raising awareness of bowel cancer - Bury Times 1st February 2007
Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in the UK. Each year around 35,000 people are diagnosed with the disease and according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics about 4,100 of these patients are being assessed and treated in the North West. Bowel cancer can be completely curable if caught and treated in time. So it is crucial that everything possible is done to raise awareness about the symptoms of the condition and get people to seek advice as soon as possible even if they find it embarrassing. This is why BUPA is supporting Beating Bowel Cancer's Loud Tie Week (January 29 to February 4).
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