Figures on child obesity, NHS waiting times and house price data are to be investigated after a row about the Home Office's use of knife crime figures

Watchdog to vet figures covering childhood obesity, NHS waiting times and house prices
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The news comes after the UK Statistics Authority accused the Home Office of making "unsubstantiated" claims and "selective" comparisons that drew "inappropriate" conclusions about knife crime figures.

Yesterday the authority said it had identified 340 sets of official statistics which may have to be judged against a new code of conduct on how the Government presented data.

Twenty sets of figures are judged so important that the authority has launched an immediate investigation into whether they are being presented properly.

They include NHS waiting times between referral by a GP and treatment, accident and emergency waiting times, the official house prices index, statistics on race and the criminal justice system and figures on obesity, physical activity and diet.

Only figures which meet the new code would in future be approved by National Statistics, the official body in charge of releasing Government data.

Sir Michael Scholar, the chairman of the authority, said he hoped judging official figures against the new code - which includes criteria on how figures are presented - will improve trust in official Government data.

He said: "We now have the guiding principles in place against which we will assess official statistics to determine whether they meet the standards necessary to be labelled as National Statistics."

I have a particular interest in the figures on "obesity, physical activity and diet", since for decades official advice and medical advice about the causes of obesity have been incorrect and damaging. We have been told, and we continue to be told, that we should cut down on fat and sugar and eat fewer calories in order to lose weight. We have also been told to take more exercise. - None of these measures will reduce obesity; they are likely, on the contrary, to increase it, as indeed they have been doing for some years now. This is because obesity is not caused by eating too much fat or sugar or too many calories, nor by taking too little exercise. - And there has never been any evidence to back up the advice that has been meted out to us over the years. - Imagine that! - Not a scrap of evidence to back up the misinformation so confidently and so insistently dinned into us! - "Just eat less and exercise more", the patronising mantra has been repeated ad nauseum. - But it doesn't work!

Obesity is not caused by eating fat or sugar or too many calories. Nor is it caused by inactivity/laziness. It is caused by weakened veins leading to fluid retention in the bloodstream, i.e. sodium retention and water/fluid retention, and thereby to excess weight/obesity.

The way to reduce/prevent obesity is to avoid salt and salty food, and to avoid prescription drugs as far as possible because these are a major cause of the the blood vessel damage that precedes the salt sensitivity/fluid retention.

You may wonder why the 'experts' continue relentlessly to give the wrong advice? - Well they may be embarrassed to admit that for decades they have been harming the health and causing avoidable disabilities and early deaths of millions of people - not just their patients - and are hoping that by adding 'cut down on salt' to their fat/sugar/calories/exercise misinformation, somehow the advice about salt will override the cutting down on calories message. - I very much doubt that it will...)o: - They are guessing again, just as they guessed, wrongly, about overeating being the cause of obesity, and were so arrogant that they didn't bother to put their assumption to the test...)o: - Most people have been conditioned pretty well all their lives to believe the falsehood that greed and laziness cause obesity; the message about salt scarcely impinges on the unfortunate overweight people. They are too busy damaging their health and destroying their lives and happiness by constantly trying unsuccessfully to lose weight by eating less (i.e. going hungry) and exercising (becoming exhausted).

Well it may be embarrassment by the professionals - or it may be fear of being sued - or worse - for causing the ill-health and early deaths they have caused and are causing!

Maybe they cling to the hope that the truth will not become clear until after they die... - Well not if I can help it!

Why not help with disseminating the truth yourself? - If you have any friends who are overweight and know from experience that dieting does not work, tell them about my blog or send them a link to my website. - Better still, tell your MP about my website. - I'm afraid my own MP is as much use as a chocolate teapot...)o:

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, hunger 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

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

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

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

Patients are losing faith in the NHS.

Patients losing faith in the NHS, claims survey

Extract from Sunday Telegraph article:

"Keith Pollard, of the information website Treatment Abroad, who carried out the study, said: "Despite huge investment in the NHS over the past 17 years, patients from the UK are voting with their feet and travelling abroad."

A fifth of those questioned by the Patients Association identified a reduction in waiting times as their main priority.

Fifteen per cent said cuts in hospital infections would make the greatest difference to them and 14 per cent wanted to see more staff on duty.

The findings follow the publication of official figures which show the Government is failing to meet its target for reducing the spread of hospital infections.

Cases of C. diff increased by seven per cent in hospital patients over the age of 65. Cases of MRSA fell by 10 per cent from a high of 7,096, but this was not enough to meet the Government's pledge to halve the rate by next year.

However, despite grave concerns over the NHS, the Patients Association survey found a clear majority rejects any move towards creating an insurance-based health care system on US or French lines.

More than 40 per cent support the current method of funding the NHS through national taxation. Twenty four per cent of those who took part, however, back a tax deductible insurance policy as a way of paying for treatment.

The survey, shows an overwhelming majority want an end to Britain's healthcare "postcode lottery" where availability of drugs and treatments depends on location.

Our findings on the growing number of health tourists provoked an angry response from the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson.

In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph he states: "Most of the treatment carried out overseas is either minor cosmetic surgery or dentistry. Little of the treatment is for general elective surgery, and where it is the majority of people accessing it would probably have gone private in the UK anyway."

The Patients Association is still collecting responses to its survey at www.patientsassociation.org.uk."

In my opinion, the hugely expensive and extremely flawed NHS should be scrapped.

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Go on! - 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

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

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

Britain's NHS is a mediocre provider of healthcare, despite its high cost.

UK falls further down European health league despite rise in funding - Guardian

Extract:

"Britain's National Health Service remains a "mediocre" provider of healthcare, performing much less well than almost all of the UK's peers in western Europe, according to a European survey.

The index of European health services, issued yesterday in Brussels by Health Consumer Powerhouse, found Britain had slid further down the European league table over the past year despite the investment in the NHS under New Labour. Of 29 countries assessed, the EU's 27 plus Norway and Switzerland, Britain came 17th.

Apart from Italy, all the countries ranked worse than Britain were much poorer, mainly from eastern Europe. Apart from Italy and Portugal, all the countries of western Europe and Scandinavia scored much higher than Britain. The same survey last year put Britain 15th.

"Patients in the UK have the right to expect more. Despite substantial funding increases, the UK still is a mediocre overall performer," said Anje Björnberg, director of Health Consumer Powerhouse.

Austria came top of the survey, followed by The Netherlands and France. New and poorer EU member states such as Estonia, the Czech Republic and Cyprus were ranked higher than Britain.

The analysis criticised Britain for long waiting times, the regional variations in supply of healthcare, the low rates of five-year cancer survival, and the scale of MRSA infection in NHS hospitals.

The survey looked at five areas of healthcare - waiting times for common treatments, results of treatment, access to medicines, patients' rights and information, and "generosity of the system". Britain scored well on patients' rights, but poorly everywhere else."


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

How to Lose weight!

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.)

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

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

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

Hospitals fail to meet waiting times in over half of cases

NHS trusts fail on waiting times - Guardian

Extract:

"Less than half of NHS patients are receiving hospital treatment within the government's flagship waiting-time target of 18 weeks, new figures revealed today.

Only 48% of patients in England are treated within 18 weeks and 12.4% have to wait more than a year for treatment, according to figures published by the Department of Health today.

The results cast doubt on whether the government can meet its promise that all patients would be treated within this time by the end of 2008.

Patients in south-east England suffered the longest waits for hospital treatment with only a third seen within the target time."


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.)

NHS patients are having to wait almost six months for life-saving diagnostic tests such as MRI scans

Patients wait six months for life-saving scans - Telegraph

Extract:

"NHS patients are having to wait almost six months for life-saving diagnostic tests such as MRI scans, new research for The Daily Telegraph shows today.

While waiting lists are falling overall, a study of NHS trusts found that the chance of an early diagnosis depends on where a patient lives.

Patients in Wales had to wait 100 working days for an MRI scan in 2005/6, while those in the North-East had to wait only 47 days."


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.)

Half of hospitals in England delay surgery to save money

Half of hospitals delay surgery to save cash

Extracts:

"Almost half of NHS hospitals across England are now deliberately delaying operations to save money.

"Minimum waiting times" have been imposed by at least 43 per cent of Acute NHS Trusts, a survey for Channel 4's Dispatches programme found. Treatments are often postponed for more than 20 weeks, despite staff and equipment being available.

Patricia Hewitt, the beleaguered Health Secretary, has vowed to resign if the NHS fails to balance its books by the end of the financial year.

Her Tory shadow, Andrew Lansley, said: "Staff are being paid to do nothing in the current quarter because Patricia Hewitt needs to get the NHS back into the black by April to save her job. Labour's NHS mismanagement has reached crisis proportions.""

"In an interview for Dispatches, Mrs Hewitt described minimum waiting times as "unfortunate and frustrating but necessary"."

NHS is accused of fiddling A&E waiting times

NHS accused of fiddling A&E waiting times

Extracts:

"The government has dismissed as "nonsense" claims that the four hour A&E waiting time target is being manipulated by "dubious management tactics".

City University Cass Business School has undertaken a study into the speed at which patients are treated and discharged and concluded that hospitals are guilty of "fiddling" waiting time figures."

"Since 2004, A&E departments have been required to see patients within four hours.

Although Cass Business School does not doubt waiting times have been reduced, it said that managers are using "dubious" tactics such as discharging patients after four hours and readmitting them again."

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)