INCREASED PATIENT CHOICE LEADING TO HOSPITAL CLOSURES
The Daily Telegraph (p12) reports that senior health figures have admitted that hospitals will close under government plans to give patients more choice about where they are treated.
According to Dr David Bennett, Chairman of Monitor, and Mike Farrar, Chief executive of the NHS Confederation, “struggling district generals, or departments within hospitals, that fail to attract patients should be shut quickly rather than being allowed to linger on and risk ‘catastrophic failure’," says the paper.
Rachael Maskell, head of health at Unite, warned that with private and voluntary organisations now able to tender to provide NHS services, closure of public sector providers “could happen quite quickly”. But the paper notes that she questioned whether patients would have genuine choice and whether they wanted it anyway saying: “Patients don’t want choice, what they want is to be made well, ” quotes the paper.
GLUING VARICOSE VEINS
The Daily Telegraph reports on a "quick and easy cure for varicose veins: glue them shut" (p10), saying the problematic veins can be treated in an hour by injecting small quantities of non-toxic glue into the affected veins, according to doctors.
The glue is guided to its target and, once the target vein is blocked, blood flows via other routes with the treated vein left to "wither and become less visible". More trials will be required but the Telegraph says so far doctors are pleased with the results.