The number of people who die following emergency bowel surgery is too high, according to an audit carried out in England and Wales. Members of the National Laparotomy Audit team discovered that 1 in 10 people die within 30 days of an emergency laparotomy procedure. Experts believe that some of these deaths could be prevented […]
New guidelines for cancer testing could save up to 5,000 lives per year, according to NICE (National Institute of Health and Care Excellence). Experts from NICE believe that new directives, which would see GPs sending patients directly for tests rather than referring them to a specialist first, would speed up the diagnostic process and enable […]
Eating around two chocolate bars per day has been linked to a decreased risk of stroke and heart disease. The University of Aberdeen led research that discovered those who consume a higher intake of chocolate had an 11 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 25 percent lower risk of associated death than those […]
Under a new public health law, people are to be banned from the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed places like work, pubs and restaurants in Wales. The changes are likely to take place in 2017 and it will be the first to come into force in Britain. It has already split opinions among medical and health groups, […]
NHS England has achieved the target waiting time for A&E patients for the first time since September 2014. Figures show that the waiting time target of 95% was reached last week (week ending 24th May) for the first time in 33 weeks. The statistics show that 95.1% of patients attending A&E the week ending the […]
A study conducted in Sweden has linked teenage obesity to an elevated risk of bowel cancer. Researchers followed the progress of 240,000 men in Sweden. At the start of the study, they were aged between 16 and 20 years old and the data spans 35 years. At the start of the study, just 6.5 percent […]
A leading doctor has called for cardiac screening in athletes, just days after two Belgian footballers died suddenly. Dr Paolo Adami, from the Institute of Sport Medicine and Science of the Italian Olympic Committee, believes that screening should be introduced in a bid to spot potentially fatal heart abnormalities among elite performers. Dr Adami recently […]
Superbugs are wreaking havoc in hospitals up and down the country. Open any newspaper and you’ll find daily reports of an MRSA outbreak in Manchester or a C.Difficile spate in Somerset – and things are set to get worse unless drugs companies can raise up to £25bn. That’s the view of Jim O’Neill, a government […]
The Stroke Association has issued a warning over the risk of strokes among young people following a study that suggests more and more working age people are suffering strokes. A study conducted by the Stroke Association shows a significant increase in hospital admissions among men aged 40-54 between 2000 and 2014. In 2014, 6,221 men […]
Bearded women have long been a source of legend, curiosity or ridicule. Typically caused by a hormonal imbalance, a genetic disorder or use of anabolic steroids, this hirsute oddity often leads women affected by the condition desperately seeking help from medical professionals. For one 32-year-old British woman, excessive hair on her face, breasts, stomach and […]