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Is the lady in your life a moody mare?Then dose her up with anti-depressants
Disturbing reports show that increasing numbers of women are being prescribed anti-depressants for PMS when they should be offered as a last resort, and may even be dangerous.
Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) affects up to one in three women, and symptoms can include feelings of hopelessness, irritability, mood swings, aggression, loss of confidence, poor concentration, tiredness, breast tenderness, headaches, cramps and a desperate longing for chocolate. Ok, not really a desperate longing for chocolate, but those who procure said chocolate will be richly rewarded, Im sure...
Seriously though, PMS can be so severe that it seriously affects people lives, at work, at home and with partners,
"When I'm asked to fill in a list of symptoms for PMS and I get to 'irritability' it makes me laugh," says Laura, 42. "When I have PMS I'm not irritable. I'm ready to kill someone. My last boyfriend said there was no way he could be with me because of my PMS. It makes me abusive. Nothing triggers it, I just wake up incredibly angry. Then when my period comes, it stops."
It's a serious health problem, and one that needs careful treatment and sensitive support, but where they should first be advising lifestyle changes (improving diet, exercising and reducing stress), therapies like CBT, and hormone treatments like the pill and patches, GPs are reaching right for their prescription pads and instead offering anti-depressants to legions of women.
Are we back to the days of simply medicating the mad woman in the attic? Why are doctors offering such drastic treatment without consideration of the other options first? Have you had decent treatment for PMS, or were you seen as just another crazy lady?
Disturbing reports show that increasing numbers of women are being prescribed anti-depressants for PMS when they should be offered as ... more -
Migrant worker paid £8.80 a week
A union says Migrant workers on a construction site at an NHS hospital have taken home as little as £8.80 for a week's work in Nottinghamshire. A union says Migrant workers on a construction site at an NHS hospital have taken home as little as £8.80 for a week's work in Notting... more
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Birth control pill now available online
Women can now get the Pill directly off the internet, with no doctor's appointment needed. The move, part of a new online service, is to be offered to women already popping pregnancy prevention pills, but could be offered to all women pretty soon.
According to a spokesman for the DrThom company, patients will have to complete a health questionnaire and then maybe have to answer follow up questions from a doctor via email.
Women can now get the Pill directly off the internet, with no doctor's appointment needed. The move, part of a new online service, is ... more -
Getting paid quit smoking
They are the latest plans from the local government in Dundee, they want to reward people who have given up smoking with £150 of groceries.
If a smoker passes a test to prove they haven't been smoking, they will get a total of £12.50 credited to a card which can be used to buy food, but not tobacco or alcohol.
Is this an innovative approach to stopping people smoking or a backwards way of rewarding people who smoke in the first place. Is anyone thinking of taking up smoking so they can quit again? They are the latest plans from the local government in Dundee, they want to reward people who have given up smoking with £150 of groce... more -
Body piercing boom worrying hospitals
Had your nipple pierced? Or maybe the nape of your neck? Well NHS doctors are beginning to get worried about botched body piercings, claiming that they could be a "substantial burden" on resources.
According to the BBC, the study, conducted by the British Medical Journal found that one in 10 people - and nearly half of all younger women - have a body piercing other than on the earlobe.
Had your nipple pierced? Or maybe the nape of your neck? Well NHS doctors are beginning to get worried about botched body piercings, c... more -
£64bn NHS privatisation plan revealed
A secret plan to privatise an entire tier of the NHS in England was revealed prematurely yesterday when the Department of Health asked multinational firms to manage services worth up to £64bn.
The department's commercial directorate placed an advertisement in the EU official journal inviting companies to begin "a competitive dialogue" about how they could take over the purchasing of healthcare for millions of NHS patients.
The advertisement should not have appeared until after ministers announced the policy next month.
Unison called on the TUC to convene an emergency meeting to respond to the government's "fundamental breach of trust". Frank Dobson, the former health secretary, said: "If this is not privatisation of the health service, I don't know what is. It is about putting multinational companies in the driving seat of the NHS."
Lord Warner, the health minister, defended the policy in a statement to the Guardian at 3.46pm yesterday but had changed tack at 6.05pm. He said he was withdrawing the advertisement to correct "a drafting error", but insisted the contracting out of NHS management would go ahead.
The advertisement asked firms to show how they could benefit patients if they took over responsibility for buying healthcare from NHS hospitals, private clinics and charities. The plan would give private firms responsibility for deciding which treatments and services would be made available to patients - and whether NHS or private hospitals would provide them.
Under the present system, this commissioning work is handled by local NHS managers employed by primary care trusts. Under the new system, the PCTs would contract out the commissioning to big healthcare management consortiums with greater purchasing muscle.
Contenders for the contracts are likely to include big US companies such as United Health and Kaiser Permanente. They may be joined by British insurers such as Bupa and PPP and their EU rivals.
The advertisement, in the Official Journal of the European Union, said the NHS was making a "step change from a service provider to a commissioning-led organisation". The PCTs would be able to contract out procurement, financial management and human resources. Initially there would be a four-year framework agreement covering the whole of England, but the value would depend on how many PCTs agreed to the scheme. It was not clear last night how much pressure there would be on them to do so.
Karen Jennings, head of health at the public service union Unison, said: "This is such a fundamental breach of trust that we are asking the TUC to get together a meeting of all health unions to thrash out a strategy. It is a contract to privatise the whole of primary care across the UK.
"There is a real danger that contracts will be awarded to the bidder promising the largest savings. It is a fundamental change in Labour party policy. It is a disgrace that jobs of health visitors, community midwives, occupational therapists and district nurses are under threat or may be transferred to the private sector."
Lord Warner said: "The government has no plans to privatise the NHS." He added that the contract advertised in the official journal would give PCTs access to expert help to improve commissioning of services, without going through expensive and time-consuming local tenders
A secret plan to privatise an entire tier of the NHS in England was revealed prematurely yesterday when the Department of Health asked... more -
Should the age laws be extended?
Extending the reach of the current age laws would protect people from age discrimination by providers of goods or services, including public sector services such as NHS provision. Extending the reach of the current age laws would protect people from age discrimination by providers of goods or services, including ... more
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Patients wrongly certified dead, five times in five years
Being a doctor, you'd think been able to distinguish if someone is alive or not would be a key component of their career. But there have been five cases of people incorrectly diagnosed as dead in the last five years in the UK.
There's one shocking example at the link; a doctor left the scene after diagnosing a woman who had fallen into a diabetic coma as being dead. Police were informed who then alerted her son as well as letting the undertaker know, but the woman was only saved from being shipped off to the morgue when Detective Constable Philip Shrimpton saw her move a little, rubbed her heart and felt her pulse.
Being a doctor, you'd think been able to distinguish if someone is alive or not would be a key component of their career. But there ha... more -
Superbugs kill record numbers in UK
" Superbugs are killing a record number of patients in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices, the British Office for National Statistics indicated. "
According to the offices reports deaths from Clostridium difficile and MRSA doubled to 8,000 in 2006 from 5,300 in 2005 according to the offices reports in England and Whales, and also states that the vast majority of the inflicted died in hospitals, or their hospices/nursing homes.
MRSA only increased by 4 deaths in 2006, however Clostridium difficile increased from 3,719 in 2005 to 6,424 in 2006.
" The Office for National Statistics said many of the hospitals reporting large numbers of deaths from the infections likely had high numbers of patients.
The office got the information from death certificates that showed where patients died but not where they acquired the infection or were treated before their deaths. " " Superbugs are killing a record number of patients in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices, the British Office for National Statisti... more -
Hospitals make money through phone calls
Some trusts have switched the prefix, making calls more expensive than the standard local number.
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Nurses vote to bring cleaning of NHS wards back in-house
Nurses have voted overwhelmingly in favour of bringing the cleaning of NHS wards back in-house rather than leaving it to private firms.
Staff at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) conference in Bournemouth said they believed in-house firms did a better job.
About 40% of NHS cleaning services are outsourced to private companies.
"There has been an increase in hospital infections and a decline in cleanliness. It's quite simple. We know what works, we have been there, we have had them. They are called ward domestics, they are an integral part of the team."
The motion, which was overwhelmingly passed by 98.88% (353 votes) to 1.12% (four votes), demands that the RCN Council lobbies the Government to end contract cleaning in the NHS.
Nurses have voted overwhelmingly in favour of bringing the cleaning of NHS wards back in-house rather than leaving it to private firms... more -
Midwives 'left woman to drown in the bath'
A pregnant woman lay drowning in a hospital bath just as she was about to give birth after staff left her unattended for 45 minutes - despite being told she had a history of fainting attacks, an inquest has heard. A pregnant woman lay drowning in a hospital bath just as she was about to give birth after staff left her unattended for 45 minutes - ... more
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Sexual healing
The NHS has released official guidelines for keeping well this winter, which state that people should be getting plenty of exercise between the sheets to ward off nasty illnesses and ageing. Having sex with a little energy and imagination provides a workout worthy of an athlete, the article at the NHS Direct site says. 'Sex uses every muscle group, gets the heart and lungs working hard, and burns about 300 calories an hour'. The NHS has released official guidelines for keeping well this winter, which state that people should be getting plenty of exercise be... more
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'Poor' NHS performance 'kills thousands' each year
Thousands of deaths in the UK each year are 'unnecessary' and linked to 'poor performance' by the NHS, according to data from the Taxpayers' Alliance and the World Health Organization.
Comparing the UK to France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, "They looked at "mortality amenable to healthcare" - the number of deaths from certain conditions and at certain ages that healthcare can reasonably be expected to avert. The rate in the UK was 135 per 100,000 people, compared with an average of 107 across the five countries. France had the best rate at 91. The report said if the difference between the UK figure and average was applied to the whole population, it would equate to 17,157 deaths - five times the number that die in road accidents."
Some might see this as a failure of socialized medicine. I thought that for a second, that maybe it's not as great as Michael Moore makes it out to be... but then I thought, how many deaths take place in the US each year because people can't get any medical attention at all? Thousands of deaths in the UK each year are 'unnecessary' and linked to 'poor performance' by the NHS, according to data from the Taxp... more -
Hospital 'Language' Needs Treatment
British doctors have developed their own dictionary of secret terms for patients and colleagues.
'Hasselhoff' and 'disco-biscuits' have taken on some alternative meanings thanks to staff at the Glasgow Royal Informary.
Check the link to find out what other 'terms of endearment' nurses in your area area might be using.
British doctors have developed their own dictionary of secret terms for patients and colleagues. ... more -
EU Proposal To Open Up Health Tourism
Patients will be able to travel to hospitals across Europe for health treatment and claim back the costs on the National Health Service under proposals introduced by the European Commission today.
The new EU healthcare directive raises the prospect of increased ?health tourism,? with Britons travelling abroad for treatment on the continent which would then be refunded by the National Health Service. Patients will be able to travel to hospitals across Europe for health treatment and claim back the costs on the National Health Servic... more -
British Women To Get The Pill Without A Prescription
Chemists could be given the power to hand out the Pill without prescription under plans unveiled by the Government yesterday. Women and girls under 16 would be able to obtain the contraceptive after one interview with a qualified pharmacist. It would put the Pill on the same footing as the morning-after pill, which is already available without direct authorisation from a doctor.
I think this is fantastic news. I know that it always brings criticisms about whether this promotes sex at a younger age. I would argue that it doesn't promote sex. It's not going to make girls have more sex. It's just going to provide those girls who are doing it anyways to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Chemists could be given the power to hand out the Pill without prescription under plans unveiled by the Government yesterday. Women an... more -
NHS Highlights Cancer-Causing Lifestyles
Sunbeds and sunbathing have been highlighted in new NHS proposals to raise awareness of "lifestyle" causes of cancer. The emphasis on risks is part of a £370 million five-year Government strategy for battling the disease. Among preventative measures are plans to consult on banning the sale of tobacco in vending machines, reducing cigarette displays in shops and a fresh look at cigarette packaging.
I don't think that highlighting risky behaviour is a necessarily new or innovative approach to discouraging us from partaking in activities that may increase our risk of cancer. Perhaps they are going to do so more aggressively. Sunbeds and sunbathing have been highlighted in new NHS proposals to raise awareness of "lifestyle" causes of cancer. The emphasis on ... more -
More Sensitive Data Lost By Scottish Officials
Hundreds of Scottish NHS workers have had their personal information compromised after a package containing their pension information was lost in transit. The documents contained the names and National Insurance numbers of all the workers, enough to comprimise their security and open them up to the threat of ID theft. Hundreds of Scottish NHS workers have had their personal information compromised after a package containing their pension information ... more
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Green Light Means Go...To the Doctor
People's health will be rated as red, amber or green under a traffic light system to appear on an NHS website this month. The system will be in a trial period for Leeds, Hull and Derby this month, and if it is successful will be available nationwide next year. The traffic light system has been adapted for security threats and food labels... do you think it's appropriate for diagnosing our health? Do you think people will comply? People's health will be rated as red, amber or green under a traffic light system to appear on an NHS website this month. The system w... more
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