Health news

• Labour and Tories set to woo working-class voters with new policies

  14-05-2017 23:30
  
  Jeremy Corbyn will promise to remove a million patients from NHS waiting lists by 2020 as Theresa May unveils big extension of workers’ rightsLabour and the Conservatives will step up their bidding war for working-class voters on Monday with a raft of eye-catching policies on workers’ rights and the NHS, as the general election campaign steps up a gear with just over three weeks to go until polling day.Jeremy Corbyn will promise to take a million patients off NHS waiting lists by 202
  
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• NHS cancer patients hit by treatment delays after cyber-attack

  14-05-2017 20:57
  
  Hospitals across the country were forced to cancel routine procedures and divert emergency cases after malware attackA week ago, Alice found out that she had bowel cancer. Doctors fast-tracked the 62-year-old for treatment and she was due to meet her consultant on Monday. But on Friday her appointment was cancelled after the NHS was hit in a global cyber-attack.“It’s devastating to hear you have cancer in the first place and anything that delays you getting any treatment that could b
  
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• Ben Jennings on Theresa May and the NHS 'ransomware' attack – cartoon

  14-05-2017 20:04
  
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• People do sometimes need to be patients | Letters

  14-05-2017 20:00
  
  As patients, especially as in-patients, we are obliged to regress – to accept the authority of doctors and nurses, and invasions into our privacyRe Ann Robinson’s article “I’m a person not a patient” (12 May), as a former GP and psychiatrist (aged 92) who has frequently been a patient, I cannot agree with her. Of course, patients are persons, but the role of patient does entail a degree of “morphing”.As patients, especially as in-patients, we are ob
  
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• Cyber-attacks highlight growing vulnerability of us all | Letters

  14-05-2017 20:00
  
  Who’s to blame for the ransomware attacks? Readers suggest Microsoft, Whitehall and the NSA among othersIn 2010, an agreement between Microsoft and the NHS to provide almost all Microsoft software to the service for one single fee and to keep the software updated with new releases was not renewed by the incoming coalition government (NHS targeted in global cyber-attack, 14 May). It cost a few billion, but the budget for it was there, and it saved many billions more. Microsoft also liked it
  
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• No! Sushi – the parasitic nightmare in your lunchbox

  14-05-2017 19:00
  
  Don’t fancy a worm with your nigiri? Freezing or cooking the fish is the answerName: Sushi worms.Age: Let’s just say that, by the time you meet one, it will have been around the block a few times. Related: Popularity of sushi has brought rise in parasitic infections, warn doctorsContinue reading...
  
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• Cyber-attack could escalate as working week begins, experts warn

  14-05-2017 15:19
  
  Europol and NHS fear further disruption when workers switch on computers for first time since spread of ransomwareHealth and security chiefs have warned of possible fresh disruption from the global cyber-attack when workers switch on their computers for the first time at the start of the working week.Europol, the pan-EU crime-fighting agency said the threat was escalating and predicted the number of “ransomware” victims was likely to grow across the private and public sectors.Continu
  
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• Checking Facebook in bed may be why you can't sleep

  14-05-2017 14:21 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  A 2014 Harvard study which compared reading on devices and printed books found that those who used tablets took longer to fall asleep and had higher alertness before bedtime.
  
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• Nurses vote in support of strike ballot over low pay

  14-05-2017 12:30
  
  Four out of five Royal College of Nursing members back a walkout in protest at below inflation pay risesNurses have voted overwhelmingly to support a ballot for strike action in protest at below-inflation pay rises, the Royal College of Nursing has announced.Four out of five members of the RCN who took part in the consultative vote backed a walkout, while nine out of 10 favoured industrial action short of a strike. Related: NHS staff 'quitting to work in supermarkets because of poor pay'Related:
  
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• Fallon on cyber security: 'We warned NHS' about old system

  14-05-2017 11:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The NHS has been given about £50m to improve its computer systems, defence minister Michael Fallon says.
  
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• Science weekly: can we cure Alzheimer's? – podcast

  14-05-2017 11:00
  
  Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of people worldwide. But despite decades of research costing hundreds of millions of dollars, we have no cure. Why?Subscribe & Review on iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast why not recommend it, or any other podcasts you’ve loved to [email protected] to be in with a chance of featuring in our Hear Here column.It was first identified in
  
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• Swedish scientists find breast milk is 'cancer cure'

  14-05-2017 10:16 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Professor Catharina Svanborg, from Lund University in Sweden, made the chance discovery that the substance kills tumour cells when working on antibiotics.
  
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• Single males more likely to die within years of surgery

  14-05-2017 09:42 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Researchers from Duke University in North Carolina found divorcees have a 76 per cent greater risk of post-surgery death than married men or widowers.
  
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• Next cyber-attack could be imminent, warn experts

  14-05-2017 09:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Computer experts warn a follow-up to the global ransomware outbreak could hit by Monday.
  
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• Cyber-attack sparks bitter political row over NHS spending

  14-05-2017 09:00
  
  Labour and Liberal Democrats claim Conservatives’ austerity squeeze has left service with unprotected IT systemsThe cyber-attack that disrupted NHS systems and forced operations to be cancelled throughout the UK on Saturday has become a bitterly contested election issue, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats blaming the crisis on the government’s failure to upgrade hospital computers.A Cobra emergency ministerial meeting held on Saturday afternoon heard that 48 NHS organisations &nda
  
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• Rich is relative: how well-off do you feel? | Daniel Glaser

  14-05-2017 07:00
  
  Wealth should be measured like sound because it depends on our perceptionAccording to the London School of Economics, even the highest paid people in the country – the top 1% – don’t feel particularly well-off. This is because they compare themselves with the 0.1% super rich - one usually works for the other.Similarly John McDonnell caused outrage a few weeks ago when he defined those earning more than £70,000 or more as ‘the rich’. Neuroscientists wouldn&rsqu
  
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• It’s good to talk about mental health. But is it enough? | Eva Wiseman

  14-05-2017 07:00
  
  With Princes William and Harry speaking up about the death of their mother, mental health awareness has had a much needed boost. But it’s what happens next that really countsMy toddler has recently learned to talk, and she speaks as if she’s recording her podcast, an unedited till roll of thoughts with a small pause for congratulations at the end. Occasionally she will prod me for praise. “That was a lovely story I just told wasn’t it?” Yes baby. “I piggy pard
  
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• being rich is relative how well-off do you feel | Daniel Glaser

  14-05-2017 07:00
  
  Wealth should be measured like sound because it depends on our perceptionAccording to the London School of Economics, even the highest paid people in the country – the top 1% – don’t feel particularly well-off. This is because they compare themselves with the 0.1% super rich - one usually works for the other.Similarly John McDonnell caused outrage a few weeks ago when he defined those earning more than £70,000 or more as ‘the rich’. Neuroscientists wouldn&rsqu
  
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• Mum to sue GP for circumcision 'assault' on son

  14-05-2017 04:17 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The doctor involved, Balvinder Mehat ofNottingham, is alleged to have carried out the procedure when the baby, whose parents are separated, was taken to visit his father’s family.
  
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• Now scientists say fizzy WATER makes us fat

  14-05-2017 03:24 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Scientists from Birzeit University in the Palestinian West Bank have discovered that when we ingest the gas in a drink, it triggers a surge in a key hunger hormone.
  
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• Eating two kiwi fruit before bedtime 'helps sleep'

  14-05-2017 03:24 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Eating two of the fruits one hour before bedtime helps people nod off quickly, scientists say. It is not understood why, but it could be linked to high antioxidant and serotonin levels in the fruit.
  
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• 'Super pollen' hay fever could trigger asthma attacks

  14-05-2017 02:42 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Hay fever sufferers are being warned to prepare for the devastating effects of ‘super pollen’. The potent phenomenon could trigger asthma attacks among allergy sufferers.
  
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• NHS 'dangerously short of nurses'

  14-05-2017 02:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One in nine nursing posts is now unfilled as the number of vacancies doubles, a nursing union says.
  
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• The HIV story is not over - the spectre of anti-science threatens our advances | Simon Garfield

  14-05-2017 01:05
  
  The life expectancy of people with HIV is now ‘near normal’, but complacency would be wrongThirty years ago, in February 1987, the Queen visited the Royal College of Pathologists. As part of her trip, she met Professor Jangu Banatvala of St Thomas’ Hospital, who explained how HIV can affect the central nervous system. He showed her some pictures of the brain of a patient, pointing out the areas that had shrunk as a result of the virus. “The Queen was very interested,&rdqu
  
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• Patients deserve best care. Only new laws can ensure this | Janet Davies

  14-05-2017 01:04
  
  Nurses are leaving the profession in droves. Legislation would ensure proper staffing levelsThe middle-aged man in the six-bed ward needs his intravenous changing. In the single room, off to the side, another man with severe dementia will have no family visitors again today. You hold his hand and talk to him about the scan he needs, but the call bell is ringing and you have to leave him to help somebody who arrived on the ward this morning.Downstairs in A&E, a nurse has just answered the &ld
  
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