The Health News United Kingdom January 10 2018
- The number of flu-related hospital admissions has tripled in a week, with one in four of those patients suffering from the deadliest strain, Australian flu. The latest statistics suggest around 4.5 million people in England are suffering “influenza-like symptoms”. Last week, 24 people died from flu in the UK. According to Public Health England, the total number of those with flu in hospital has risen from 1,280 to 3,750 in a week, a 2.9-fold rise.
- Dips in temperature can trigger depression in women even in summer and, in winter, as the days get longer, they can feel more tired then men. An estimated three per cent of the population suffers from Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Now, a new study by the University of Glasgow has found women, but not men, experience seasonal changes in their mood across the year, including more depressive symptoms in winter.
- A health minister was criticised on Monday after saying there are “seats available” in hospitals which have run out of beds amid the crisis affecting NHS hospitals. Philip Dunne made the remark in response to being told how patients were forced to sleep on the floor, prompting anger from Members of Parliament. Mister Dunne also apologised to people who have had their operations postponed as the NHS in England struggles to cope with rising flu levels.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 10th of January 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/australian-flu-prevent-virus-symptoms-look/
The number of flu-related hospital admissions has tripled in a week, with one in four of those patients suffering from the deadliest strain, Australian flu. The latest statistics suggest around four point five million people in England are suffering “influenza-like symptoms”. Last week, twenty four people died from flu in the UK. According to Public Health England, the total number of those with flu in hospital has risen from one thousand two hundred eighty to three thousand seven hundred fifty in a week, a two point nine-fold rise.
The arrival of Australian flu – also known as Aussie flu – comes amid a winter crisis in the health service. NHS England has urged hospitals to defer planned operations and routine outpatient appointments until the end of the month. The strain is of particular concern due to fears that current vaccinations are not providing effective protection to the elderly. In recent years, the NHS has seen increasingly long waits over winter, with some of the worst waiting times on record last winter.
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The influenza virus can change every year, which means the flu you contract this year could be a different type to the one you suffered from last year. While the official name of the flu circulating the UK this winter is HthreeNtwo, it has recently been dubbed Australian – or Aussie – flu. This is because the same strain fuelled the worst flu crisis Australia had experienced for around two decades.
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The particular strain of HthreeNtwo flu that is affecting the UK is similar to the type that Australia suffered from earlier this year, during their winter. Over two hundred seventeen thousand Australians had confirmed cases of the virus in two thousand seventeen, over double the previous record of just over one hundred thousand in two thousand fifteen.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/901955/mental-health-depression-winter-blues-women-more-affected
Dips in temperature can trigger depression in women even in summer and, in winter, as the days get longer, they can feel more tired then men. An estimated three per cent of the population suffers from Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Now, a new study by the University of Glasgow has found women, but not men, experience seasonal changes in their mood across the year, including more depressive symptoms in winter.
Those affected feel lethargic, have a persistent low mood, a loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities known as anhedonia, irritability and feelings of despair. The symptoms often begin in the autumn as the days start getting shorter and become most severe during winter, although they improve and then disappear in the spring and summer.
Professor of Psychiatry Daniel Smith, from the University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing, said: “Among women, total depressive symptom score and anhedonia peaked in the winter months.” He added that the “analysis did not reveal a seasonal pattern of depressive symptoms in men, but men showed similar associations of anhedonia and tiredness scores with day length to women”.
A health minister was criticised on Monday after saying there are “seats available” in hospitals which have run out of beds amid the crisis affecting NHS hospitals. Philip Dunne made the remark in response to being told how patients were forced to sleep on the floor, prompting anger from Members of Parliament. Mister Dunne also apologised to people who have had their operations postponed as the NHS in England struggles to cope with rising flu levels.
Labour’s Tracy Brabin said one of her constituents had taken photographs of people “sleeping on the floor” in a hospital. She said: “These were poorly people in chairs waiting for hours, not being given a bed or a trolley. Mister Dunne replied: “(Miss Brabin) will have heard last week the apology from the Secretary of State to those patients who are having operations postponed, and I absolutely am prepared to apologise today to those patients who are not able to be treated as quickly as we would like them to.”
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The exchange occurred after Labour secured an urgent question in the Commons and challenged the Government to explain its response to the pressures placed on the NHS this winter.
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Mister Hunt emerged from Number ten after approximately two hours with the enhanced title of Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, despite speculation he would lose the health brief.
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