The Health News United Kingdom September 22 2017

Overview

• Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge has entered the debate on whether to legalised drugs in Britain, saying it is now a “massive question” to be faced. Last year, a report from the Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health suggested that the “war on drugs” had failed.
• According to a new report, tens of thousands of the poorest children in London are facing a cocktail of health risks including air pollution, obesity and poverty that will leave them with lifelong health problems.
• A major report shows that the NHS is facing record negligence bills for brain-damaged babies because midwives fail to carry out the right checks in two in three such cases.  The review of compensation claims shows the costs of catastrophic birth injury have almost doubled in the last five years, reaching almost £2bn.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 22nd of  September 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/19/prince-williams-asks-whether-britian-should-legalise-drugs/

Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge has entered the debate on whether to legalised drugs in Britain, saying it is now a “massive question” to be faced. The Duke, who was visiting a charity, asked recovering addicts whether they believed the law on illegal substances should be changed, calling them “the key people” to give insight on the “big dangers” surrounding drug use.Saying it “feels like a question I had to ask”, the Duke acknowledged the “growing pressure” to change the regulation of drugs use in the UK. Royal aides emphasised that the Duke had been careful not to offer his own opinion, but said he was “not immune” to the debate after working with charities helping those affected by addiction. The Home Office said that the Government “has no plans to decriminalise drug misuse”.The Liberal Democrat’s most recent General Election manifesto called for the legalisation of cannabis so that it could be sold in a regulated market.

Last year, a report from the Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health suggested that the “war on drugs” had failed. It argued criminalising drugs lead to greater long-term harm by causing users to be excluded from employment and education, as well as exposing them to more drugs in prison. The Duke spoke as he visited the Spitalfields Crypt Trust (SCT), which for more than fifty years has provided services for alcohol and drug addicts. Sitting in an art room used by the charity based in Shoreditch, London, the Duke spoke to three recovering addicts, who had been affected by drugs or alcohol.

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Transform, a think tank which campaigns for the legal regulation of drugs, praised the Duke for his approach, saying: “Transform is delighted that Prince William has the courage to ask one of the most crucial questions of our time.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/19/poorest-london-children-face-health-risks-toxic-air-poverty-obesity

According to a new report, tens of thousands of the poorest children in London are facing a cocktail of health risks including air pollution, obesity and poverty that will leave them with lifelong health problems. The study found that schools in the capital worst affected by the UK’s air pollution crisis were also disproportionately poor, with high levels of obesity.

Saul Billingsley, executive director of  the FIA Foundation, an international environmental and road safety charity which carried out the study, said: “Children from some of London’s most socially deprived areas are not only affected by unacceptable levels of air pollution around their schools, they also face compounding health risks.”

Eighty five percent of the schools most affected by air pollution have pupils that come from deprived neighbourhoods. Almost nine in ten of the secondary schools most affected had levels of obesity higher than the London average. Jonathan Grigg, professor of paediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said the health consequences for these children could be “very serious”. He added that  children from disadvantaged backgrounds often did have access to green spaces but when they did go outside, they were more likely to be breathing dangerously polluted air. Earlier this year the Guardian revealed that children at more than eight hundred schools, nurseries and colleges in London, and more than two thousand across England and Wales, are being exposed to illegal levels of air pollution.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/19/copy-record-nhs-negligence-payouts-fuelled-maternity-blunders/

A major report shows that the NHS is facing record negligence bills for brain-damaged babies because midwives fail to carry out the right checks in two in three such cases. The review of compensation claims shows the costs of catastrophic birth injury have almost doubled in the last five years, reaching almost two billion pounds. The study by NHS litigation authorities examined fifty cases which between in depth. It found that in sixty four per cent of cases, devastating harm – leaving children in need of lifelong, round-the-clock care – followed failures to monitor babies’ hearts, or to interpret the results of checks.And in fifty eight percent of the claims, staff involved needed extra training. Earlier this year, coroners warned that newborns are dying and suffering major injury because midwives and doctors have proved unable or unwilling to carry out the right checks.

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The new study by NHS Resolution found that overall, rates of the most serious blunders have barely changed in twenty years, despite repeated promises to improve safety in maternity services.The vast majority of cases involved failings in heart monitoring, which should be used to detect signs of distress, and ensure doctors are called, or prompt intervention, such as a caesarean section. In inquests earlier this year, expert witnesses said it had become “commonplace” for midwives to qualify without such training in foetal monitoring. The analysis showed that the investigations carried out by NHS hospitals when things go wrong are “poor” quality and six in ten do not involve parents.