The Health News United Kingdom August 11 2017

Overview

• Lobster Pot, a popular city centre chippy was closed after a food hygiene inspection by environmental health. Liverpool City Council has now confirmed that the restaurant and takeaway was shut voluntarily by the owners in order to deal with a number of hygiene related issues that were discovered during the inspection.
• According public health officials , at least 30 athletes and team members at the world athletics championships in London have been infected in a suspected outbreak of norovirus. Several competitors were forced to withdraw from events in the first half of the tournament after suffering symptoms including vomiting.
  
• The Department of Health has kicked plans to force UK medical graduates to spend four years working in the NHS into the long grass, after being warned that it would ‘exacerbate’ the workforce crisis.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 11th of August 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/legendary-lobster-pot-chippy-closed-13456486

A popular city centre chippy was closed after a food hygiene inspection by environmental health.

Lobster Pot on Whitechapel shut its doors today, leaving dozens of customers concerned over the reason why. The Liverpool ECHO attempted to contact the owners of the business but have so far been unable to track them down for a response. At the site itself, there is no information as to why the decision to close the restaurant has been taken. A staff member who was near to the site when we passed suggested there may be an issue with the kitchen – but could not confirm any details. The famous local business has another venue in Ranelagh Street, opposite Liverpool Central station, which was open but there was no one willing to shed any light on the situation. Liverpool City Council has now confirmed that the restaurant and takeaway was shut voluntarily by the owners in order to deal with a number of hygiene related issues that were discovered during the inspection. While the establishment should be reopened in due course, another inspection of the premises must be carried out first.

A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said:”The business agreed to voluntarily close the premises in order to deal with hygiene issues highlighted to them and a re-visit of the business will be carried out in due course.The Lobster Pot’s status as a Liverpool institution was clear when we visited the closed Whitechapel site this evening and found a number of people looking on with concern and asking why the shutters were down.It has often been described as one of the city’s best-loved take aways and expanded its brand to Whitechapel in two thousand fifteen.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/08/london-2017-world-atheltics-championships-organisers-quarantine-hotel-gastroenteritis-outbreak

At least thirty athletes and team members at the world athletics championships in London have been infected in a suspected outbreak of norovirus, public health officials have said. Several competitors were forced to withdraw from events in the first half of the tournament after suffering symptoms including vomiting. Nine people were still affected by Tuesday afternoon, the organising committee said. The diagnosis comes after athletes and support staff from the Botswanan, German, Canadian, Irish and Puerto Rican teams staying at the Tower hotel, near Tower Bridge, were taken ill over several days. Some, according to reports, have been put into quarantine.

Competition organisers said on Monday that the illnesses were a result of gastroenteritis, but Public Health England on Tuesday said that laboratory tests had confirmed that two infections were caused by norovirus. The bug is easily spread, partly because it can survive for several days outside the body. The Tower hotel has insisted that it was not the source of the outbreak. “We have worked collaboratively with the environmental health officer and the International Association of Athletics Federations to investigate the origins of the illness and can confirm that the hotel was not the source,” the hotel said in a statement.

An IAAF statement read: “Those affected have been supported by both team and local organising committee medical staff. In addition, we have been working with Public Health England to ensure the situation is managed and contained. “As a result, further advice and guidelines have been issued to team doctors and support staff – standard procedure for such an occurrence where a number of teams are occupying championship accommodation.”

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/your-practice/practice-topics/education/dh-shelves-plans-to-handcuff-uk-trained-doctors-to-nhs-for-four-years/20034984.article

The Department of Health has kicked plans to force UK medical graduates to spend four years working in the NHS into the long grass, after being warned that it would worsen the workforce crisis. The DH did add that it would ‘continue to consider’ how to ensure taxpayer return from the cost of medical education, but a DH spokesperson told Pulse that there was no date to revisit the idea of four-year minimum service for the time being. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt had told the Conservative Party conference last year that it would see ‘all those trained as doctors on the NHS… required to work in the NHS for a minimum of four years after graduation’, but the DH told Pulse the consultation could not reach a conclusion on the matter. The DH will today respond to its consultation on how to expand medical schools places by a quarter. Pulse understands this will rubber-stamp plans for medical schools funding to be geared towards institutions with a proven track record on producing general practitioners, when allocating one thousand or the one thousand five hundred new training places.

In a briefing ahead of publishing the full response later today, the DH also said it would focus on boosting diversity in the workforce, including for disadvantaged students. It added that medical schools will have to show how they will prioritise training in rural and coastal regions, which historically struggle to recruit. Health minister Philip Dunne said: ‘Not only is this the biggest ever expansion to the number of doctor training places, but it’s also one of the most inclusive; ensuring everyone has the chance to study medicine regardless of their background.

The British Medical Association’s consultation submission to the DH had argued that ‘tax payers get a significant return on their investment from the dedicated service provided by all doctors over the course of their career’.It added that such a policy would worsen workforce problems, discourage students from poorer background, and was potentially discriminatory to women who are more likely to take a career break.