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264 records
found from year 2006
| View Scottish stories from other years: 2005 2004 |
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| Thursday, 22 June 2006 09:20 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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A new drug has been found to help people lose weight - without dieting.
A study in Scotland found the drug Zotrim made people feel fuller for longer, inturn making them eat less.
Patients lost an average of almost 5lb in just six weeks without changing their eating habits.
Dr Carrie Ruxton, who led the study, said: "Many people are skeptical about drugs that claim to help people lose weight but my study shows that this does actually work”.
She said the drug, Zotrim, contains three herbs from South America to keep food in the stomach longer.
Dr Ruxton said: "Tests show the drugs keep food in the body by at least 20 minutes longer, meaning people feel fuller longer. This takes away their need to eat big puddings or have unhealthy snacks to make them feel full.
"And despite making no dietary changes to their diet, the average weight lost over the study period was 4.8lb”.
Dr Anthony Leeds, senior lecturer in nutrition at King's College London: "These results are encouraging, especially with the evidence for delayed gastric emptying”.
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| Wednesday, 21 June 2006 10:54 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Medical charities have called on drug regulation agencies in Scotland to consider the long-term savings to the NHS and the economy before deciding which medicines were too expensive for use.
The plea came as ministers heard expert evidence on improving NHS prescribing in Scotland, where the regulatory system differs from the rest of the UK.
Clara MacKay, of Breast Cancer Care Scotland, said the struggle by some women to get the drug Herceptin highlighted the focus on financial cost.
She said: "The perception is that those wanting Herceptin are taking away resources. They were demonised for trying to access treatment. Meanwhile the overall picture is ignored."
Herceptin costs around £20,000 per patient per year. Some 300 women in Scotland will get the drug after it was licensed at a cost of £7.7 million to the NHS.
Mark Hazelwood, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, said there should be regular input from patients before decisions on drugs were made.
"Patients don't see access to drugs in isolation. They see the total picture. Drug companies want to rush things through and get a patent but MS is lifelong. We need to capture health costs not just in payment but in its impact on society."
Jim Eadie, director of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry in Scotland, backed the call.
"Last year the National Economic Research Association looked at the economics involved in treating various illnesses and examined factors such as working days lost and cutting hospital admissions.
"Economists found offering heart patients the best treatment over five years would save 4,000 lives in Scotland and £49 million in hospital procedures."
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| Monday, 19 June 2006 12:22 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Plans to redistribute NHS resources from middle-class to more deprived areas in Scotland will fail to solve disparities in health care, a report has warned.
The Executive has a ten-year plan to improve healthcare in Scotland, and one proposal includes redistributing £100m a year to poorer communities.
However, Conservatives have warned that any such shake-up will miss out poorer areas as well as leading to the closure of smaller hospitals and staff cuts.
Nanette Milne, the party's health spokeswoman, said any extra funding should come from new allocations rather than by depriving an existing area. "I do not think anyone could argue we do not need to pull up the poorer areas of Scotland, because it is dismal, but it should not be at the expense of other areas."
Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the British Medical Association's Scottish General Practitioners Committee, welcomed more funds for poorer areas, but warned any system must be fair.
"If there was a clear and equitable process for redistributing the funds to those health boards that need it the most, that would certainly seem appropriate," he said.
The Scottish Executive currently uses the Arbuthnott formula, which calculates the amount of funding by need.
But the Kerr report, which set out plans for the future services, said more needed to be done to tackle inequalities, including £25 million to seek out ill people in deprived communities. A spokesman said:
"We are committed to improving overall population health, while tackling these inequalities by targeting resources where they are most needed."
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| Monday, 19 June 2006 12:01 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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A senior doctor has sparked controversy after claiming that teenage pregnancy is ‘part of nature’s law’ and should not be condemned out of hand.
Dr Laurence Shaw, deputy medical director of the Bridge Centre fertility clinic in London, said females had been programmed by two million years of evolution to have babies in their late teens and earl twenties when fertility is at its peak.
He told the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Eshre) that nature intended women to become mothers when young, and for their fertility to decline with age.
Speaking to delegates in Prague, Dr Shaw said: "Before we condemn our teenagers for having sex behind the bike sheds and becoming pregnant, we should remember that this is a natural response by these girls to their rising fertility levels.
"Society may 'tut tut' about them, but their actions are part of an evolutionary process that goes back nearly two million years; while their behaviour may not fit with western society's expectations, it is perhaps useful to consider it in a wider context."
But family groups and politicians have condemned the remarks.
Shona Robison, the SNP's health spokeswoman, whose constituency in Dundee has rates of teenage pregnancy far exceeding the national average, called the remarks "flippant".
"Maybe he should reflect on the effects of teenage pregnancy," she said. "In representing Dundee, I am well aware of the problems teenage pregnancy can cause girls. For many it leads to a life of poverty and a loss of opportunity. I doubt these are the things he would want for his own daughters."
Teresa Smith, chair of the Scottish Christian People's Alliance, said the comments were "completely outrageous".
"Many things are an occurrence within nature but it does not mean they are the right thing to do," she said. "Girls of that age are not mature enough to bring up a baby. If they choose to have an abortion, there are long-term effects.
"Teenagers having sexual activity risk catching chlamydia and causing fertility problems. We should be promoting abstinence, not telling young people this is natural."
Tim Street, the chief executive, of the Family Planning Association Scotland, said the comments highlighted the need to educate teenagers about the dangers of sex.
"We have to actually explain to young people that we want them to wait until they are older before they start having sex and eventually kids.
"If, as he says, this is a natural, biological reaction to being who you are, we also have to explain that good policies on this are about delaying sexual intercourse until later on."
In his talk Dr Shaw also said it was wrong to be prejudiced against older women who sought fertility treatment.
"Before we criticise 62-year-old women who want to have babies, we should remember that it was not so long ago that women would only have had about 20 or 30 years to care for their offspring and help with the next generation," he said.
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| Saturday, 17 June 2006 12:05 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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More than 500 children, including one as young as eight, are receiving treatment for drink and drug addiction in Scotland, new figures show.
Scottish Executive statistics reveal that 548 children aged 16 and under came forward fro treatment last year.
The figures came out in an answer to a parliamentary question by Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell. She said: "It is horrendous that over 500 people aged 16 or under are undergoing rehabilitation for drug or alcohol abuse."
Ms Mitchell called on the Executive to use rehabilitated addicts' experiences to warn young people about drugs, and to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach.
A spokesman for the Executive said: "Of course it's a concern that young people fall victim to the evil dealers who prey upon them. That's why we have a strong enforcement policy through the drug enforcement agency and police forces."
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| Saturday, 17 June 2006 11:00 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Phone calls to the Scottish Domestic Abuse Helpline increased by nearly 40 per cent last year, figures show.
The helpline received 20,410 calls in 2005 – a record in its six-year history – up from 14,776 calls in 2004.
Staff said the increase was a positive sign indicating growing confidence in the service among those being abused.
But campaigners warned that the figure remains well below the true level of abuse and called for more action to help the country’s “silent sufferers”.
Research has found that it takes an average of 35 incidents of abuse before the victim comes forward.
Scotland sees almost 45,000 domestic abuse cases and ten domestic abuse-related deaths every year, although it is believed that thousands more cases go unreported.
Johann Lamont, the deputy communities minister, said: "Every call to the Scottish Domestic Abuse Helpline reminds us domestic abuse still occurs. It is imperative we keep this critical issue ... in everyone's mind."
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| Saturday, 17 June 2006 10:54 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Drug addicts could be given electrotherapy to help them kick the habit under new plans being considered by the Scottish Executive, The Scotsman has reported.
The controversial treatment sends electric pulses through the skull to help stabilise the brain after quitting "cold turkey" and help to control the body's cravings.
One patient who underwent a five-day course of neuro-electric treatment has since been drug free.
Jack McConnell, the First Minister, is reportedly so impressed with the anecdotal evidence, that he has asked Scotland's Chief Medical Officer to look into the issue.
David Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, welcomed a controlled study but warned against seeing the new treatments as a "magic bullet".
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| Thursday, 15 June 2006 11:01 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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A student nurse has called for a public inquiry into excessive hospital parking charges after spending more than half of her living allowance on parking at the hospital where she worked.
Mother of three Louise MacLeod needed to drive to and from work to meet her childcare needs. She spent up to £4,000 of her £6,000 grant on £46-a-week parking charges at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary (RIE) over a two-year placement.
Now that she is fully trained she, like many other nurses, is reluctant to take a job at the hospital because of the parking fees.
Some people have had to fork out up to £1,600 to visit ill relatives over a prolonged period at the RIE, where it costs £10 a day to park.
An investigation by The Scotsman newspaper revealed that charges vary from £1 to £7 a day in other hospitals across Scotland, despite Executive guidelines that health boards should not charge patients or relatives of severely ill patients for parking.
Ms MacLeod and union representatives want action in the form of a public inquiry into parking charges at Scottish hospitals as soon as possible.
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| Sunday, 11 June 2006 12:54 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Being a parent or working for the emergency services can be bad for the heart, a study of more than 2,500 people has shown.
Tests carried out on people from Edinburgh and Glasgow revealed that parents are more prone to high cholesterol and blood pressure than normal. The results also showed that those working for the fire service, police and armed forces had a higher risk of heart disease.
Flora pro.activ carried out the study as part of its Testing the Nation’s Hearts roadshow. Fifty nine per cent of women and 54 per cent of men had dangerous levels of cholesterol, while a third of men and a quarter of women had high blood pressure.
Fifty three per cent of parents suffered from high blood pressure, compared with 41 per cent of those who did not have children. Parents also suffered from 6 per cent more cholesterol.
Overall, the risk of heart disease among Scots was similar to that among those south of the border. A third of men tested had a 20 per cent risk of heart disease, while just 10 per cent of women had the same risk.
Scotland has one of the highest levels of heart disease in Europe, fuelled by binge drinking, heavy smoking and poor diet. Professor Frank Sullivan, a lecturer in community health at Dundee University, warned against using the the Flora tests as a sign that the nation's health was improving.
He said: "Inevitably you will attract certain groups of people to tests of this sort and it can be difficult to get a true representation of the population. Other studies have shown that Scotland is still lagging behind other parts of the UK in the area of heart disease."
He added that the difference in cholesterol levels between those with children and those without could be explained by the lifestyle choices parents make in comparison to childless couples.
"People without children are more likely to go to the gym and eat healthily," he said.
"Harassed mothers with young children are more likely to be in too much of hurry to do that and may even be eating the kind of food their children like, which tends to be higher in fat and salt."
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| Sunday, 11 June 2006 12:00 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Growing anger over waiting times and the vast amount of money being spent on pay deals has seen public confidence in the NHS plummet over the past 12 months, a survey has revealed.
According to opinion pollsters YouGov, growing numbers of people believe the health service is failing to provide the level of care they expect. The survey shows that nearly half of those questioned thought the NHS was deteriorating.
YouGov quizzed 2,000 people form across the UK aged between 18 and 55 years each quarter from September 2004 about their views in the health service.
The April 2006 responses reveal that just 16 per cent felt the NHS had improved over the past 12 months, compared with 26 per cent in September 2004. Thirty Six per cent also felt that waiting lists were getting worse, compared with just 31 per cent in September 2004.
Forty six per cent now believe the NHS is deteriorating. This figure was just 28 per cent in September 2004.
John Curtice, research consultant to the Scottish Centre of Social Research and a politics lecturer at Strathclyde University, said: "The public remains to be convinced that they will be seen sufficiently quickly by a hospital consultant when they need one. Unless that perception is changed, politicians will continue to struggle to convince voters that the NHS is being run properly."
Health experts also believe the public is growing increasingly disillusioned with mention of the record £8bn ploughed into the NHS in Scotland last year, as little more than half of that has gone to local health boards.
Massive sums have been eaten up by huge pay rises to hospital doctors and GPs, with a failure to ensure the spending was linked to clear gains in patient care.
Dr Andrew Walker, a health economist at Glasgow University, said: "This high level of dissatisfaction could reflect the amount of money that has gone into the health service on pay deals where the public have not seen the direct benefit of that.
"Waiting time figures are a specific example of somewhere the government has achieved the targets it set itself, but it seems the public are fairly sceptical of this."
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