Cancer specialists warn about the high costs of excessive unproved cancer treatments

BBC News informs us that a "group of 37 leading experts from around the world say the burden of cancer is growing and becoming a major financial issue... Lead author Prof Richard Sullivan told the BBC: "It's not just pharmaceuticals. Biomarkers, imaging and surgery are all getting through with very low levels of evidence - the hurdles are set too low." The report calls for a proper evaluation of the relative merits of conventional surgery and less invasive robotic surgery."

This is a view that certainly finds favour with me. With the incidence of cancer so much on the increase, it is more and more clear that cancer prevention is of paramount importance. Most people know that smoking is the main cause of lung cancer. As well as cigarette smoke, many other chemicals, including household chemicals, are carcinogenic. Also radiation, so avoid scans unless they are strictly necessary. - See http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Cancer-What-Causes-Cancer?.htm And be wary of artificial sweeteners. And do you know that breast feeding reduces cancer risk in mothers? There is a great deal more information about cancer prevention on this page.

Added later: I forgot to draw attention once again to the need for a legal ban on food manufacturers adding transfats to so many of their products. Transfats have been linked to breast cancer risk, as well as to many other health problems. So these cancer experts may like to consider pressing Andrew Lansley, the 'Health' Secretary, to get transfats banned pdq, instead of leaving it to the food industry to go at their own, s-l-o-w, voluntary rate of reduction.

Seriously, why are we even considering more junk additives in processed food, instead of simply banning the salt?

Seriously, why is anyone even considering more junk additives in processed food, instead of simply banning the salt? See today's Sunday Telegraph article. - Do you really fancy a bit of dental plaque(!) mixed in with your ready-meal? your cornflakes? your slice of toast? - Of course you don't!

The Food Standards Agency should stop playing about, and so should the Dept of Health and Andrew Lansley. They should all get it made illegal to add salt to processed food and thereby do what they are purportedly paid for, i.e. protect the health of UK citizens against the self-serving interests of the Food Industry. - And while they're about it, ban the addition of transfats too! - Come on, Mr Lansley! - Show us what you're made of! - Prove that you are not influenced against such a ban because of a conflict of interest that favours food manufacturers.

Andrew Lansley, UK's Health Secretary, does not favour regulation to improve public health

It is shaming to read in this excellent Independent article, that Britain's Secretary of State for Health intends to reduce the regulation of junk food, smoking and cheap alcohol. And it is astonishing that a guy who was formerly a director of a marketing company with junk food clients, should have been placed in a position to exert such malign power over food policy. Britain has massive health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, etc. that could so easily be reduced by banning food producers from adding transfats to foods and by putting legal curbs on the amount of salt/sodium that processed food manufacturers, restaurants and fast food takeaways are allowed to add to the food they sell. Lansley is seeking to promote the interests of the food and drinks industry, rather than the health of UK citizens. This is deplorable.

Are you vulnerable to salt? Here is the safe, sure way to lose excess weight fast by cutting down on salt and salty food.

We should pay heed to the words of Katherine Murphy, Director of the Patients Association

In this Telegraph article we read that "Two of the bosses of the company at the centre of the out-of-hours GP scandal have gone on to other jobs running similar patient services for the NHS." These two bosses are GPs. You will remember that Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Ill-Health, who infamously refuses to ban the addition of transfats to food products, despite NICE's recommendation to do so and save up to 7,000 premature deaths a year, is planning to put £billions into the money-grubbing hands of entrepreneurial doctors like this pair.

Extract from the article:

"Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients Association, said: "It never ceases to amaze me that people can move from one senior post to another without having to justify their failures or be held to account.

"It is appalling that these individuals are involved in out-of-hours again. Where is the accountability and what message does that send to patients and the taxpayer?"

She added that it 'raises many issues' about the government's NHS reforms and plans to put GPs in charge of commissioning care.

Ms Murphy said: "I wonder if the Secretary of State [is] reconsidering some of his plans for GP commissioning now.""

Most bags of crisps are about twice as large as they used to be, despite manufacturers pledging to reduce their size.

See the Telegraph article. You certainly can't accuse snack food manufacturers of falling over themselves to make their products less unhealthy, especially the salty snack brigade. But they do provide us with a free laugh or two, e.g. "PepsiCo, who make Walkers and Doritos crisps, announced a major commitment to healthy living in March, saying they would scrap the 40g and 50g ‘grab bag’ of crisps by 2015." - Only 5 years to wait...(o: - How many children's lives have they damaged with their salt-laden junk? And how many more will suffer in order to swell PepsiCo's profits?

Andrew Lansley, the UK Secretary of State against Health and for Food Inc, favours a “non-regulatory approach” to tackle obesity. Personally, I favour a change of job for Andrew Lansley.

Children need to be protected from salt and salty food. See Children and Salt.

Excellent article by Alex Renton about toxic trans fats and the harmful products that contain them

See Daily Mail article. It looks as if it's best to avoid transfat-containing Krispy Kremes and Elmlea cream substitute with a bargepole. Don't make yourself ill and be one of the thousands of people who die before their time just for the sake of a doughnut and some artificial cream! - And check out those biscuits!

I urge you to read the article. I'm sure you will find it eye-opening. And then ponder why on earth Andrew Lansley as Health Secretary is against banning trans fats from food! - He should be relieved of his post; he is a laughing stock among people interested in promoting health. He is bringing the government into disrepute. What on earth were they thinking of to appoint him to such a powerful position in which he can do such harm? Were they just 'aving a larf? From his reaction to the Whitewash Report about the UK's Swine Flu Vaccine debâcle, he clearly favours Big Pharma as well as Food Inc...)o: - Please, Mr Prime Minister, can we have a Health Secretary with a bit of interest in keeping citizens healthy, rather than boosting the profits of big business?

Andrew Lansley is in the wrong job. He is putting the profits of the Food Industry above the health of UK citizens.

See this Daily Mail article in which you will read that although trans fats are believed to cause 7,000 premature deaths a year, Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, opposes a ban on their use as an additive in biscuits, etc - an additive that prolongs the shelf life of the product, but endangers the life of the person who eats it. And this, even though NICE recommends banning trans fats.

This is a Health Secretary who has gone over to the Dark Side. Let's have him out of the Government PDQ. And let's have that ban on trans fats ASAP. Read more about trans fats here: www.tfx.org.uk.

Andrew Lansley has a cheek criticising Jamie's hard work in improving School Meals

See this Guardian article. When Jamie began his campaigning work to improve school meals, a frequent substance that appeared on the children's lunch plates was a highly-salted, processed parody of food called Turkey Twizzlers: devoid of real nutrition and harming children's health by its high salt content, a major cause of obesity in children, it could have been doing children nothing but harm. - Jamie worked indefatigably to put an end to this national scandal and deserves unstinted praise, not criticism, for his success in improving school dinner provision and drawing attention to lack of cookery teaching, etc. - Shame on Andrew Lansley!

Drug companies would only be paid by the NHS if their treatments improve a patient's health, under radical plans unveiled by the Conservatives.

Tories 'would only pay drug companies if treatments work'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The Conservatives are pledging to overhaul the system if elected. Mr Lansley said: "Instead of the NHS denying access to drugs because they say it's not cost effective - as NICE has done recently with four kidney cancer drugs - we should encourage the NHS to use new medicines which are clinically effective, and agree subsequently to pay the drugs companies according to the therapeutic benefit.

"In other words, drugs companies should only be paid according to the benefits that a drug brings to patients. NICE should be involved in this process, working with drug companies to set fair prices for new medicines - rather than refusing new treatments which it deems too expensive."

Mr Lansley says there are already small-scale examples of drugs companies agreeing to be paid on results. For example, he draws attention to a constituent of his who needed a drug to treat bone marrow cancer. Johnson & Johnson, the drug's manufacturer, agreed with the Department of Health to only be paid for the drug for patients where it has been successful.

The shadow Health Secretary said: "At the moment, everyone loses out - patients don't get new and potentially life saving drugs, the NHS can't innovate and meet the needs of patients, and drugs companies don't get the opportunity to introduce their new therapies…Every time a patient dies having been denied a new drug which should be available to them it is a tragedy."

He added: "The Government should act swiftly now to reform the system before any more people's lives are tragically cut short."

The Conservative proposals, to be set out in a speech by Mr Lansley to the CBI today, are likely to be welcomed by patient groups and drug companies."

I welcome that idea. Well done for that bright idea, Andrew Lansley! - That would be a start! - But since prescription drugs do far more harm than good, the drug companies should have to pay money to the NHS for all the adverse effects/harm the patients suffer as a result of taking Big Pharma's concoctions...

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

See advice for pregnant mothers

Hygiene standards in NHS hospitals have been called into question after it emerged they are routinely dealing with infestations of vermin.

Hospitals infested with rats, fleas and bed bugs
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Outbreaks have included rats in maternity wards, wasps and fleas in neo-natal units, bed bug infestations, flies in operating theatres and maggots found in patients' slippers.

The data, uncovered using Freedom of Information rules, include hospitals with maggots, "over-run" with ants and mi.ce "all over" wards; cockroaches in a urology unit and a store for sterile materials infested with mice."

"The Conservatives asked all 171 hospital trusts in England for details of pest control incidents for the last two years.

Of those, 127 Trusts responded and almost all had experienced problems and 100 of them collected detailed information about pest infestations.

In total there were almost 20,000 reports of pest problems and seven out of 10 trusts that responded reported they had called in pest control officers more than 50 times since January 2006 - an average of once a fortnight."

"Of the trusts that collected detailed information 80 per cent had problems with ants, 66 per cent had rats, 77 per cent had mice, 59 per cent had problems with cockroaches, 65 per cent had biting insects or fleas, 24 per cent had problems with bed bugs and 6 per cent had maggots.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Labour have said over and over again that they will improve cleanliness in our hospitals but these figures clearly show that they are failing. It is difficult for health service estates to maintain a completely pest free environment but the level and variety of these infestations is concerning.

"We need greater transparency in NHS infection control, and publishing data like this is one way in which we can drive up overall hygiene standards."

Eight hospitals trusts called in pest control officers more than 500 times, with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust having the most severe problem with 1,070 incidents in two years."

Appalling!

Controversial polyclinics will be forced upon towns and villages across the country, The Sunday Telegraph discloses

Polyclinics will be imposed despite ministers’ promises
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Ministers have repeatedly insisted that government plans for 300 super-surgeries, housing up to 25 GPs, will not be imposed, but agreed through consultations with local communities.

However, information gathered from primary care trusts (PCTs) leaves those pledges in tatters.

Half of the PCTs that responded said they would not consult on plans to build centres and some cited advice from the Department of Health as the reason for their decision.

The disclosures, from 100 of England’s 152 PCTs, appear to render meaningless recent promises by Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, who said last month he would “insist” that all decisions on the centres be “taken in consultation with local people”, later adding that there was “no argument for imposing” the plans.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the new information, gathered by the Conservatives under the Freedom of Information Act, demonstrated the Health Secretary’s pledges to be “no more than spin”.

Mr Lansley said: “Labour has claimed that they are not imposing polyclinics on local people, but these figures expose that lie for what it is.”"

More than 30,000 hospital beds have been lost in the decade since Labour came to power, with record cuts in NHS wards last year.

NHS hospitals lose 32,000 beds in a decade

Extract from the Telegraph:

"More than 40 per cent of maternity units turned away women in labour last year because they had no room.

Meanwhile, ambulances have been forced to queue outside overstretched hospitals, treating patients in car parks just yards from accident and emergency departments. The new statistics, revealed in response to a parliamentary question by Ed Vaizey, the Conservative MP, show that almost 32,000 NHS hospital beds went between 1997, when Labour took office, and 2007.

More than 8,400 beds were cut in the year ending March 2007, the largest fall in 14 years. One in six beds has been closed over the decade. There are now 167,019 beds in NHS wards, compared with 198,848 in 1997.

The figures emerged as health authorities are drawing up plans which will see the likely closure of dozens of district general hospitals. The East of England health authority has admitted that two accident and emergency departments and a maternity unit could close.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the Government's financial mismanagement had forced hospitals to make cuts which could risk lives. "These bed cuts were financially driven: the sharp rise in the numbers closed happened at a time when the health service was under desperate pressure to clear a massive deficit."

Katherine Murphy, from the Patients Association, said: "This is a national scandal. More than 30,000 beds have been lost at a time when demand is increasing."

In the same decade that the beds were cut, death rates from the infections MRSA and Clostridium difficile rose five-fold. Investigations into the biggest C. diff outbreak in Britain, which killed 90 patients at hospitals run by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust in 2005 and 2006, found that overcrowding amid pressure to meet hospital waiting targets was a factor behind the infection's spread.

More than 2,000 maternity beds have been lost since 1997. Research by the Conservatives found that last year, 42 per cent of maternity units had refused to accept women in labour on at least one occasion."

NHS superbug board should have been sacked, say Tories - Guardian reports today

NHS superbug board should have been sacked, say Tories - Guardian

Extract:

"Government ministers were last night accused of aggravating the NHS superbug scandal by failing to take charge of the hospitals where 90 people died as soon as the scale of mismanagement became clear.

Andrew Lansley, the Conservative shadow health secretary, last night said the three hospitals of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust should have been brought under direct departmental control.

In a report on Thursday, the Healthcare Commission said scores of patients died from infection by Clostridium difficile bacteria in Britain's worst outbreak of a hospital superbug. It blamed the trust board for a catalogue of safety lapses that caused the death toll between April 2004 and September 2006.

Mr Lansley said the government should have acted to suspend or sack the trust's board as soon as it received an advance copy of the commission's findings in the middle of last week.

Instead, it allowed directors to agree a package worth more than £250,000 for Rose Gibb, the chief executive, who quit her job on Friday last week without any announcement or public explanation.

Mr Lansley said: "This devastating report should have precipitated the immediate removal of those responsible on grounds of gross negligence. Normally employees are entitled to written warnings, but in circumstances of gross misconduct most contracts allow for summary dismissal. I do not know why that did not happen in this case."

The commission accused the trust of "significant failings in infection control". When inspectors went into its hospitals after the C difficile outbreaks were contained, they found patients being provided with bedpans that were visibly dirty with faeces. Bedding and equipment was left on the floor, fire doors were blocked and needle and sharp instrument disposal bins were overflowing on four wards. Staff washed cups in treatment room sinks and stored food in the clinical refrigerators.

Mr Lansley said: "The Department of Health could and should have removed the entire board and any directors with a contribution to make could have been appointed to a new one. The power exists when ministers have no confidence in a board. It is difficult to imagine what might be a graver offence than the one they perpetrated." Sacking the board would have forestalled any payoffs, he added.

After media criticism of the payoff on Thursday, the health secretary, Alan Johnson, instructed the trust to withhold the severance payment, pending legal advice. The department said yesterday its lawyers were still considering the matter."