The heads of NHS quangos have seen their salaries increase by up to 77 per cent in three years - more than seven times the rise in nurses' pay.

NHS quango bosses enjoy pay boosts of up to 77 per cent
article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Six chief executives of health service organisations now earn more than Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, while pay for bosses at more than 300 hospital and primary care trusts has increased by an average of 10 per cent in one year.

The rises were attacked last night for being “an insult” to taxpayers.

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph shows that 19 chiefs of NHS quangos are paid six-figure salaries, including 12 who received double-digit rises in the past three years. Between 2005 and last year, Andrew Dillon, the chief executive of the rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), was given a salary rise of 44 per cent, taking his pay to £202,000.

Prof Kent Woods, of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, received an increase of 36 per cent, bringing his pay to £218,000.

Alan Doran, appointed in 2007 to run IVF regulators the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority earned £160,000 last year, 51 per cent more than his predecessor did in 2005.

Lynda Hamlyn, the chief executive of NHS Blood and Transplant earns £168,630, 77 per cent more than the boss of the organisation it replaced. All the salaries were agreed by non-executives from their own boards within limits set by the Government.

During the same period, pay for nurses rose by an average of 8.2 per cent."

Obviously, this is unfair. - And personally, I reckon we'd be better off without the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency - the MHRA - altogether. See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2007/04/is-mhra-medicines-and-healthcare.html

Common fertility treatments given to thousands of couples do nothing to boost their chances of getting pregnant, according to a recent study.

Common fertility treatments 'do not aid conception'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Giving couples a popular fertility drug or a common form of insemination are no more effective than encouraging them to 'keep trying', researchers said.

Both treatments are officially recommended as one of the first courses of action for couples having trouble conceiving.

They are designed to improve fertility rates either by stimulating egg production in the ovaries or by injecting sperm directly into the womb.

But the study suggests that both have little or no effect on conception rates.

More than 21,000 couples a year receive the drug, called Clomifene citrate, which has cost the NHS around £1 million over the last five years.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates fertility treatment in Britain, does not collect information on how many couples receive unstimulated intrauterine insemination (IUI) but experts believe there are thousands of the treatments carried out every year, at a cost of around £300 per cycle."

Sounds as though it would be a good idea to discontinue these treatments. -This would save raising false hopes, save people's time, save money...

A drug-free, cost-free way to improve fertility is to avoid salt and salty food. This also benefits health in many ways.

British IVF doctors will be told to avoid multiple births

From the Telegraph - IVF doctors told to avoid multiple births

Extract:

"A cap will be set on the number of twins and triplets fertility clinics are allowed to produce in an attempt to reduce risky multiple pregnancies, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority will publish on Monday the conclusions of its consultation on how to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies, which pose an increased risk to the mother and babies.

The HFEA is understood to be backing away from the introduction of immediate guidelines on which women should have only one embryo implanted at a time and instead favours plans to allow clinics to set out their own measures to reduce multiple pregnancies."

If a woman is infertile because of being overweight/obese she can easily and safely reduce her excess weight by avoiding eating salt and salty food, so may like to try this before embarking on possibly risky interventions.

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Lord Winston, the fertility expert, has said that IVF clinics are exploiting women who are desperate for a baby.

Fertility expert says IVF clinics exploit women - Telegraph

Extract:

"Lord Winston, the fertility expert, has said that IVF clinics are exploiting women who are desperate for a baby.

Robert Winston, professor of fertility studies at Imperial College London, has said couples are being charged over the odds and the fertility watchdog is doing too little to protect them.

"One of the major problems facing us in healthcare is that IVF has become a massive commercial industry," he said.

"It’s very easy to exploit people by the fact that they’re desperate and you’ve got the technology which they want, which may not work."

Lord Winston is one of the world’s most respected medical academics and researcher of the human reproductive system. But he is perhaps best known as the presenter of the Human Body and Super Human television series.

He said: "Amazing sums of money are being made through IVF.

"It is really rather depressing to consider that some IVF treatments in London are charged at ten times the fee that is charged in Melbourne, where there is excellent medicine, where IVF is just as successful, where they have comparable salaries - money is corrupting this whole technology."

Lord Winston, who was speaking at the Hay Literary Festival in mid-Wales, said: "Hundreds of women are being exploited out of their desperation to get pregnant from people who are taking large sums of money from them in private clinics."

"The regulatory authority has done a consistently bad job," he said of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. "It’s not prevented the exploitation of women." "

Obesity reduces fertility. Cutting down on salt/sodium reduces obesity, so women can boost their fertility by eating less salt.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Plans to restrict IVF treatment in Britain

Plans to restrict IVF treatment - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Women having IVF treatment may be restricted to having only one embryo implanted at a time to avoid the dangers of multiple births.

In a public consultation paper launched on Wednesday, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority will raise the issue of “single embryo transfer” amid fears that multiple births are putting the lives of mothers and babies at risk.

Strict rules governing IVF treatment currently mean that women under 40 in Britain can have two embryos implanted while those over 40 are allowed three.

The more embryos that are transferred, the greater the chance of twins or triplets, increasing the risk of premature births, cerebral palsy, low birth weight and other complications. "

Most women can improve their fertility by reducing their salt intake. - This is because reducing salt intake reduces any fluid retention, which is the cause of obesity, and there is a positive correlation between obesity and infertility.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)See also http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html