Heart Beat

August 29 – The government has set out measures to ensure all NHS patients get drugs and treatments as soon as they are approved by its evaluation institute. Campaigners have complained recently that some parts of England delay introducing approved treatments, creating “postcode” lotteries of treatment. Hospitals and trusts that fail to adopt these drugs [...]

Stem cell treatments may soon be used to repair damaged hearts following the success of a pioneering trial, revealed today. US doctors have successfully shown that heart muscle can be repaired with cells taken from the patients themselves, according to a report in The Lancet. The researchers in Los Angeles, UK, tested the treatment on [...]

December 8 – NHS patients are to get maps of local services and GP practices to allow them to make quick decisions about care, it was announced yesterday. Web-based maps, launched yesterday, may eventually allow patients to identify the success rates and approval ratings of services being offered to them. Success of treatment, quality of [...]

November 18 – A fresh drive to restrict the use of antibiotics and prevent them losing their potency, was launched today. A government watchdog warned that too many people expect antibiotics for common viral conditions, such as colds and flu, which cannot be treated by the drugs. And a British academic warned the lack of [...]

Nearly one in two cancer patients do not take their pain-killing drugs at times of greatest misery, British researchers revealed yesterday. Specialists said the finding was “remarkable” and showed that current treatments do not meet patient needs. Dr Andrew Davies, a palliative medicine specialist at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, said patients faced “incapacitating” episodes of [...]