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264 records
found from year 2006
| View Scottish stories from other years: 2005 2004 |
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| Sunday, 11 June 2006 11:33 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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The British Fertility Society has said that Scotland is facing a critical shortage of sperm donors.
Chairman Dr Mark Hamilton said the law ending the donor’s right to anonymity, which came into force in April 2005, had had a drastic impact on donor numbers.
The change means children conceived from donor eggs or sperm will be able to trace their biological parent when they reach 18. However, the donor will not be able to trace the child and has no financial or legal obligation towards them under the legislation.
A BBC survey of IVF clinics in Scotland found that half of NHS units had stopped providing services, while the Department of Health said donors could be attracted back to clinics by simple changes such as “realistic opening hours”.
Dr Hamilton, also a consultant at Aberdeen's Assisted Reproduction Unit, said potential donors were put off when they found out anonymity was no longer protected.
He said: "We, as clinicians, had great anxieties about the effects of the legislation.
"We've made it perfectly clear to government that there is a real crisis in sperm donor shortages and there is a strong need for more resources to be put in.
"I've no great optimism that things are going to rapidly change but discussions with the Department of Health both north and south of the border are continuing."
The BBC Scotland news website found that two of Scotland’s four NHS clinics have suspended services because of the lack of donors. Lorraine Stewart, donor co-ordinator at the Aberdeen clinic, said a waiting list for sperm treatment had been started for the first time due to the shortages, and that fertility treatment using sperm donations then had to be suspended altogether until supplies became available.
At Ninewells Assisted Conception Unit in Dundee, the waiting tie for egg donation treatment has more than doubled from two to five years since the law was introduced.
In a statement, the clinic said: "The waiting time for treatment using donated sperm used to be only a few months. Now patients are on a list, awaiting a donor. This could be for at least a year."
Dr Tony Harrold, an infertility consultant at Ninewells, said: "We have a strange situation where regulation has been introduced in the interests of the child but the effect just now is that the children aren't going to be born in the first place because patients can't access treatment."
At the private Nuffield Hospital in Glasgow, Sister Alison Kennedy also said waiting times were longer since the change in the law and the cost of treatment had increased.
The Edinburgh Fertility Centre, based at the Royal Infirmary, said it has had no new donations since the law was introduced.
Consultant Dr Stewart Irvine said: "We are now turning patients away. Since 2005, there have been between 30 and 40 patients we have been unable to treat."
Dr Irvine also said the centre could no longer match the eye and hair colour of donors and recipients.
"The worry is that patients will try to make their own arrangements or go overseas where there is less regulation," he added.
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| Friday, 09 June 2006 11:55 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has ruled that women with early stage breast cancer should have access to the drug Herceptin.
The draft guidance comes two weeks after the drug received its European license. Once final guidance is published in July, local health bosses will be given a three month period in which to implement it.
They will then face legal proceedings if they fail to offer the drug to eligible patients.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium, Nice’s equivalent body in Scotland, has also recommended that Herceptin be made available to early stage breast cancer sufferers on the NHS.
Doctor Ian Smith, head of the Breast Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, said the development of the drug heralded similar treatments for other types of cancer.
"It's the first of a type of targeted therapy, where you pick up a specific molecular abnormality in the cancer cell and you hit it. And there are other drugs already in the pipeline.
"I think Herceptin will be looked back on in breast cancer as a historic drug, the first of a whole new generation."
Herceptin has been proven to benefit women with HER2 positive breast cancer – around 20 per cent of total cases. However, up to 10 per cent of that group will not be eligible because it could lead to heart problems.
It is thought that providing the drug to the 5,000 eligible women in the UK will cost the NHS £100m a year. But Professor Mike Richards, the government's national cancer director, said financing the drug would not lead to cutbacks elsewhere.
He said: "The health service is getting more money each year.
"This is a major step forward. It's is good news for women because it may mean more actually get cured of their breast cancer.
"Because of that it is an absolutely appropriate use of the new funds that are going into the health service."
Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said: "These proposals are very good news for women with HER2 positive breast cancer.
"Herceptin, for these women, is clinically and cost effective in the early stage of the disease and we look forward to being able to issue final guidance, subject to any appeal against our recommendations, in a few weeks time."
Ann Marie Rogers from Swindon, who won her legal fight to be given the drug, said: "I hope this means an end to the battle for others who are still fighting their PCTs [NHS Primary care Trusts] for the drug.
"No one should have to suffer like I did and have to fight in the courts for a drug a doctor prescribes you."
But Kate Law of Cancer Research UK, said: "We must remember that Herceptin is only suitable in about one in five cases of breast cancer.
"So it's essential not to create a climate of false hope for women, where Herceptin is seen as a miracle cure suitable for everyone with breast cancer."
Christine Fogg, joint chief executive of Breast Cancer Care said: "People with early-stage breast cancer who may benefit from Herceptin will be overjoyed at today's decision."
Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer said a year of uncertainty and post-code lottery was "at last coming to an end".
"But this will only be the case if women are sure they can be tested to see if Herceptin is suitable for them.
"Nationwide, HER2 testing is being put in place and all women diagnosed with breast cancer need to know this test will be available quickly."
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| Friday, 09 June 2006 10:27 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Scotland’s First Minister Jack McConnell yesterday denied the Executive’s flagship policy of free personal care for the elderly had been reduced to a postcode lottery.
Mr McConnell made the defence after it emerged that 15 out of 32 councils have waiting lists in place, with more than 200 elderly people in Argyll and Bute denied their legal right to such care.
It has also come to light that some councils will prepare food as part of the policy while others refuse.
Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon, the deputy leader of the Scottish National Party, accused First Minister Jack McConnell of condoning the waiting lists.
"Again this week we've heard some local authorities in Scotland are rationing free personal care because of a lack of resources," she said.
Annabel Goldie, the leader of the Scottish Tories, said it was "very worrying" the Executive was not coming up with the resources to provide free care.
But Mr McConnel insisted that local authorities had been given sufficient funding - £153m last year rising to £169m for 2007-08 – to implement the free care plan. He said the Executive would send social work inspectors to any council deviating from the free personal care policy.
Pat Watters, the president of CoSLA, said waiting lists were part of managing free personal care as demand increased.
But he said the Executive will have to clarify guidance on the policy and increase funds to ensure it works in the long run.
"There is no crisis in free personal care and we are already involved in sensible discussions with the Executive to ensure that this popular policy is sustainable over the coming years," he said.
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| Thursday, 08 June 2006 10:37 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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A new form of hip replacement decreases the risk of patients being left with one leg longer than the other.
A third of hip patients risk having a 1cm or greater difference in leg length after surgery. But research on 102 hip replacement patients at the Royal London Hospital who had the new joint showed an average difference of only 1mm.
Seventy per cent had differences of 5mm or less, while one in four patients receiving the new joint had legs of identical lengths.
When people are born with legs of unequal length, the extra strain on the hip joint can eventually lead to arthritis, while the disease itself can result in a loss of leg length. A hip replacement can also leave a leg shorter than before, with around one in three patients ending up with an average difference of 1.5cm.
Minor differences, less than 1cm, are not usually a problem, but bigger gaps have been linked to low back pain, risk of dislocation, sciatic nerve pain and walking difficulties.
Different leg lengths may also put extra strain on the new artificial joint, with a risk that it may fail sooner than it should. Although shoe inserts and other strategies can be used to combat the problem, research shows many patients are still unhappy.
The thigh bone is made up of three parts: a head, which fits into the socket of the hip, a neck, and shaft. In normal hip replacement surgery, the ball and socket joint of the hip, including the neck of the thigh bone, is replaced by an artificial socket and ball.
The metal ball, or head, is attached to a stem implanted in the femur or thigh bone.
In the procedure used by surgeons at the Royal London Hospital, the 1cm to 2cm long neck of the thigh bone, which links the discarded head to the shaft, is not cut away, but retained. A slot is cut in the femur and the neck-retaining femoral implant is designed to fit over and around the neck.
Keeping the neck of the bone means that more of the natural anatomy is retained and this makes it more likely that the legs will be of equal length.
Retaining the neck also makes it easier to keep check on the alignment of the legs during surgery.
Surgeons at the Royal London have now analysed the results from 102 patients who have had the procedure, and found high rates of accuracy.
"Our results show the neck-retaining joint minimises leg-length inequality following total hip replacement," says Vikas Khanduja, one of the team involved in the research, which was led by consultant surgeon Gareth Scott.
"Minor discrepancies, of less than 1cm, are usually well tolerated," he added, "but inequalities of more than 1cm can be associated with a number of risks."
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| Wednesday, 07 June 2006 12:46 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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The World Health Organisation is to tell a conference in Scotland that a shortage of doctors, nurses and midwives has created an impending global crisis in healthcare.
A WHO report estimates that there is currently a global shortage of some four million health workers.
Dr Maunel Dayrit, director of the department of human resources for health at the WHO, and Judith Oulton of the International Council of Nurses, will address the three-day conference in Glasgow.
Dr Dayrit is expected to highlight 57 nations across the globe where a serious shortage of doctors, nurses and midwives is impairing the provision of lifesaving interventions such as child immunisation and safe pregnancy.
All countries need a well-developed plan to train the health workforce of the future and need more investment in the training and development of health workers now, he will say.
Prof Barbara Parfitt, dean of the university's school of nursing, midwifery and community health, said: "When people tend to think of healthcare overseas in developing nations it is equipment, drugs and doctors that are usually identified as the need.
"However, it is impossible to sustain any level of healthcare without support on the ground from nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals."
Dame Karlene Davis, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "Professional bodies can use their influence with governments in rich and poorer countries to ensure that every woman has access to a skilled health professional during pregnancy and childbirth."
Sylvia Denton, president of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "In today's global labour market, the way we deal with our health services at home has an impact on healthcare systems across the world."
Around half the nurses registered in the UK since 1997 have come from countries such as the Philippines, Australia, India, South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries. Ghana has lost more than 1,000 nurses to the UK over the past eight years.
"That's a huge skills drain that the country can ill afford," Ms Denton said.
"At a time when there is a worldwide shortage of nurses, we need to become more self-sufficient and train our own nurses rather than recruiting from elsewhere," she added.
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| Wednesday, 07 June 2006 10:35 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Spending watchdogs are to investigate the Scottish Executive’s free personal care policy after some councils admitted running out of money to pay for the scheme.
More than 200 pensioners in Argyll and Bute have been denied essential daily care because councillors do not have enough money to pay for the service, it was reported last week.
But the Executive said council’s should be able to adjust their budgets to cover the scheme.
The Liberal Democrat health spokesman Mike Rumbles yesterday asked deputy Auditor General Caroline Gardner to look into whether the funding packages given to councils are sufficient to implement policies such as free care.
"The only way that we can ascertain whether or not the Executive has properly funded these schemes or if council complaints are unjustified is if an independent body investigates," he said.
"If the Executive is not providing the necessary funding I will back councils to the hilt to ensure they get it, but we have to have the evidence first."
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| Tuesday, 06 June 2006 11:41 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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A former drugs minister has called for Scotland’s worst heroin addicts to be prescribed the drug on the NHS.
Dr Richard Simpson said that Scotland should follow other European countries by setting up heroin clinics where addicts receive free injections of the drug.
A three-year project in Germany saw a sharp drop in drug deaths and drug-related crime, with results indicating that providing patients with heroin was more effective than giving them methadone – the current treatment for addicts in the UK.
Dr Simpson told BBC Radio Scotland: "The evidence is now absolutely clear that for a small number of individuals for whom other treatments do not work, this is an excellent treatment system that is effective."
Drug groups oppose the move, which they say would send out the wrong message. But Scotland’s drugs minister between 2001 and 2002 said he thought people would back it because “it protects the public”.
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| Monday, 05 June 2006 10:12 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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An Aberdeen IVF clinic has been forced to turn away new patients because of a shortage of sperm donors.
The number of donors has dwindled since new government rules came into force meaning that sperm donors can no longer be anonymous.
The clinic wrote to patients – some of whom were halfway through treatment – to tell them they have to go on another city’s waiting list.
The clinic's spokeswoman, Sandra Kant, said: "It's just impossible to buy sperm - we've tried every unit in the country.
"Our patients are so upset; it's bad enough to go on a waiting list, but the ones already receiving treatment are devastated.
"It's also really hard for staff to have to withdraw a service that's been here for two decades. I hope supplies will improve but, to be honest, I'm very nervous about the future."
The law introduced on 1 April means that IVF children can go to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to find out who their father is.
There is now only one active donor in the whole of Scotland and couples face waits of up to five years for treatment.
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| Saturday, 03 June 2006 10:56 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Scottish nurses have warned ministers that having to change in toilets and wash their own uniforms is increasing the risk of passing deadly infections on to patients.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said a lack of changing facilities and laundry services in Scottish hospitals was hampering the fight against superbugs such as MRSA, and called on the Executive to ensure all employers provide suitable changing and laundry facilities.
RCN research shows that almost a third of nurses (32 per cent) did not have access to changing facilities at work and have to change in toilets or wear their uniforms to work.
Forty four per cent did not have access to showering facilities at work, while 34 per cent did not have a locker for belongings. Fifty eight per cent did not have access to a laundering service.
Jane McCready, board chairwoman of RCN Scotland, said: "It's common sense that healthcare staff should have a separate uniform for every shift they work. But we know that this often isn't the case and the implications for infection control are obvious.
"Healthcare staff need to be given the resources and facilities to tackle healthcare associated infections effectively.
"The results of this research show that nurses are being hampered in those efforts when it comes to safe practice around uniforms."
Margaret Davidson, chief executive of the Scotland Patients Association, said all nurses should have access to proper changing facilities.
"Nurses shouldn't have to travel in their uniforms because they could pick up cross-infections. They must have the facilities to get changed in a safe and clean environment at work so they are in a proper state to be near patients."
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said: "We recommend that changing facilities be provided for NHS staff to encourage them to change out of a uniform while still in the workplace."
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| Thursday, 01 June 2006 10:53 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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The number of doctors charged with manslaughter has increased sharply since the 1990s as more families push for legal action following the death of a loved one.
But despite the increase in charges being brought, the conviction rate has remained low, at about 30 per cent.
Researchers have warned that it will be become harder to maintain an open culture where medical mistakes are reported in the future if individual doctors continue to be singled out by grieving relatives.
A study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine found that 85 doctors in the United Kingdom had been charged with manslaughter between 1795 and the end of last year. Three had pled guilty, 22 were convicted and 60 were acquitted.
Thirty eight (45 per cent) of the charges against doctors had been brought since 1990. Dr Robin Ferner, from Birmingham's City Hospital, said: "The number of doctors charged with manslaughter has risen steeply since the beginning of the 1990s. However, the rate of conviction remains low.
"The evidence suggests that doctors are being charged for reasons of vengeance or retribution, rather than to protect patients."
It was appropriate to charge doctors where there had been a clear violation or deliberate deviation from safe practice, but human error was unavoidable, he said. Threats of prosecution would be likely to mean faults going unreported and more patients losing their lives.
"Prosecuting doctors who make errors increases the number of ruined careers, but vilification of individuals does not lead to safer health systems," Dr Ferner added.
Ian Barker, a solicitor with the Medical Defence Union, said prosecutors needed to take a considered view based on expert opinion when considering charges against doctors.
He said: "In a lot of cases, you are not just seeing elements of human errors, but also systems failure. One wonders if you are fixing the problem by prosecuting individuals."
Dr George Fernie, of the British Medical Association's Scottish Council, said doctors were highly trained and had to undergo appraisal and revalidation processes, but he added: "Doctors are human and, unfortunately, mistakes can happen."
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