The Health News United Kingdom January 11 2018
- Record numbers of Scots who attended accident-and-emergency departments in the week between Christmas and New Year were forced to wait more than four hours for treatment as the NHS was deluged by a flu epidemic. Official figures for the week ending December 31, 2017 showed nearly a quarter of people (5,686) who attended A&E had to wait longer than the target deadline, 1,156 waited longer than eight hours and 272 longer than 12 hours.
- A UK-wide ban on manufacturers making products containing microbeads has come into force, in an attempt to cut down on plastics in our oceans. The beads are used in hundreds of different cosmetic products such as face washes and shower gels. It is estimated up to 51 trillion microbeads are currently in our oceans, while a single shower can flush away an estimated one hundred thousand microbeads. They are then ingested by marine life and even end up entering our food chain.
- A study suggests that singing could help mothers recover from postnatal depression more quickly. Researchers found that women who took part in group singing sessions with their babies experienced a much faster improvement in their symptoms than those who did not. The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, looked at one hundred thirty four mothers with postnatal depression. Early recovery is seen to be crucial to limit effects on mother and baby.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 11th of January 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/09/scottish-ae-waiting-times-record-high-christmas-new-year/
Record numbers of Scots who attended accident-and-emergency departments in the week between Christmas and New Year were forced to wait more than four hours for treatment as the NHS was deluged by a flu epidemic. Official figures for the week ending December thirty one, two thousand seventeen showed nearly a quarter of people (five thousand six hundred eighty six) who attended Accident and Emergency had to wait longer than the target deadline, one thousand one hundred fifty six waited longer than eight hours and two hundred seventy two longer than twelve hours.
Only seventy eight percent of patients were admitted or discharged within four hours, well below the Scottish Government target of ninety five per cent and the lowest level since weekly reporting of the statistics started in February two thousand fifteen. Patients at some hospitals endured even longer waits, with Forth Valley Royal Hospital meeting the four-hour deadline in only fifty seven point three percent of cases and Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – Scotland’s largest – treating sixty three point three percent. Shona Robison, Scotland’s embattled Health Minister, claimed Accident and Emergency performance was still better than south of the Border but warned the surge in flu and respiratory illness would take “some time” to subside.
But the Scottish Conservatives said the figures were “nothing short of a disgrace” and the Liberal Democrats said they should “shatter the SNP government’s complacency.” Labour said the four-hour target was missed more than one hundred thousand times last year.
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NHS Forth Valley was the worst performing health board (fifty seven point three percent), with Greater Glasgow and Clyde (seventy one point one percent), Lothian (seventy six point two percent) and Lanarkshire (seventy six point eight percent) also missing the target in about a quarter of cases.
A UK-wide ban on manufacturers making products containing microbeads has come into force, in an attempt to cut down on plastics in our oceans. The beads are used in hundreds of different cosmetic products such as face washes and shower gels. It is estimated up to fifty one trillion microbeads are currently in our oceans, while a single shower can flush away an estimated one hundred thousand microbeads. They are then ingested by marine life and even end up entering our food chain.
Environment minister Therese Coffey told Sky News that the ban is part of a wider plan to cut down on plastic pollution. She said: “We know that any plastic in the marine environment is not good and we know that animals consume this.
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The ban has been welcomed by campaigners and cosmetic companies which already use natural alternatives to microbeads.
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Mary Creagh, who chairs the Environment Audit Committee, said the ban was a “good thing” but the Government must go “much further, much faster”.The Member of Parliament said: “We need to look at how plastic has invaded every area of our life.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42607141
A study suggests that singing could help mothers recover from postnatal depression more quickly. Researchers found that women who took part in group singing sessions with their babies experienced a much faster improvement in their symptoms than those who did not.
The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, looked at one hundred thirty four mothers with postnatal depression. Early recovery is seen to be crucial to limit effects on mother and baby.
Post-natal depression is estimated to affect one in eight new mothers. Previous studies have indicated singing can help improve the mental health of older people and those with dementia, but this is the first controlled study of its effect on postnatal depression. The women were placed into three groups: one took part in group singing; another took part in in creative play sessions;
a third group received their usual care, which could include family support, antidepressants or mindfulness.
The singing workshops saw the mothers learning lullabies and songs from around the world with their babies and creating new songs together about motherhood.
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All the groups improved over the ten weeks, but in the first six weeks the singing group had already reported an average thirty five percent decrease in depressive symptoms. Principal investigator Doctor Rosie Perkins said the study, although small, was significant because it was important to tackle the symptoms as quickly as possible.
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