How can the GMC possibly be allowed to continue as a regulator?

How can the GMC possibly be allowed to continue as a regulator? - I have many times inveighed against the uselessness of the GMC and I have many times called for it to be scrapped. It has no regard at all, other than rhetorical, for the safety of patients, and it routinely protects lousy doctors from anything but the most lenient of punishments for very grave malpractice. But this report by the Sunday Telegraph of its investigation into the case of a grossly negligent, incredibly ignorant, fraudster of a doctor really MUST be followed by the speedy demise of the General Medical Council. This is a national scandal of mind-blowing proportions. I urge you to read the whole article; a mere summary seems inadequate.

In the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal, The Sunday Telegraph is launching a campaign to avoid any repeat of such a crisis

Overview of the Stafford Hospital Scandal and suggested measures to prevent its happening again
article in the Sunday Telegraph

You may also like to visit

The Patients Association

If you are interested in Patients' Rights you may like to consider signing a petition, which can be found here:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/patientrights/

And you may be interested to look at the list of current petitions to Number 10 Downing Street in the "Health, well-being and care" category. They are here:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/list/open?cat=557

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

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.”"

Children hate their bodies and yearn to be thin. Anxiety about eating can lead to eating disorders.

Children hate their bodies and yearn to be thin

Extract from the Sunday Telegraph:

"Young children associate being thin with being "popular" and being overweight with being "nasty", attitudes that experts say could lead to eating disorders later in life.

The stresses faced by young children are revealed in the eighth series of the BBC's Child of Our Time, which has followed 25 children since their births in 2000.

The influence of so-called "size zero" culture was revealed when the children, none of whom was overweight, were asked to choose their ideal figure from a series of drawings. All the girls aspired to be thinner and thought that the fuller figures would have fewer friends. One girl said, unprompted, that the largest figure would be "nasty because she is fat". One child, Rhianna, a healthy, normal-sized seven-year-old from Yorkshire, said in the first episode: "I just don't like my body shape. I think I look really fat. I don't like it."

John Oates, a psychologist with the Open University, which has co-produced the series, said: "For the girls, in particular, weight was linked to attractiveness. The media portrayal of attractiveness being about thinness is picked up by children at an early age. Anxiety about eating is definitely a problem that can lead towards eating disorders.""

If everyone was to be told the truth about how people become fat, then there would be very few people with eating disorders. The truth is that obesity has a number of possible causes. Fluid retention/water retention/salt sensitivity is a major and unrecognised route to child obesity because most children these days eat too much salt and salty food. There are other additional possible causes in adults.

Whatever has caused a person to be overweight/fat/obese, they will lose much of that excess weight if they avoid eating salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, 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!

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

Children and Obesity

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

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

Infection rates in British hospitals are ten times higher than those in other countries

British hospitals 'worst for superbugs'

Extracts from the Sunday Telegraph:

"Infection rates in British hospitals are 10 times higher than those in other countries, according to a damning report.

The report, from a panel of government advisers, warns of "a fifty-fold increase since 1990", with one in five cases of the killer bug Clostridium difficile now affecting patients below the age of 65.

A leading infection expert, Prof Richard James, director of the Centre for Healthcare Associated Infections, said the figures meant Britain's death rate from the bug was likely to dwarf those of other countries. The unpublished report, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, urges hospitals to improve hygiene, testing and isolation procedures to slow the spread of the infection, which was caught by more than 50,000 people last year."

"A television programme tonight warns that C. difficile infection is becoming increasingly resistant to treatment.

• 'Panorama: How Safe is Your Hospital?', BBC1 10.20pm, Sunday April 27th."

You can improve your resistance to infection by eating less salt/sodium and salty food.

Army hero, Cpl Mark Wright, died because of failings of the Ministry of Defence

Army hero left to die by failings at MoD

Extract from the Sunday Telegraph:

"Last night, Bob Wright, the soldier's father, said he was furious with the Ministry of Defence, which he accused of "trying to hide the truth".

Cpl Wright, a 27-year-old paratrooper, was one of seven soldiers who became trapped in a minefield in September 2006 in Helmand, southern Afghanistan, following an operation to rescue a wounded soldier.

The report states:

• Cpl Wright died because of the non-availability of an aircraft equipped with a suitable winch

• Soldiers did not have a map of the mined area even though one was available

• Radio problems led to a communications breakdown

• Soldiers had to provide their own mine extraction kits

• The British military needs to develop its own Combat Search and Rescue capability.

At the time of the incident, the MoD made no mention of the equipment problems and claimed that Cpl Wright's injuries were so severe that he was effectively beyond medical help. But a copy of the soldier's post- mortem report, which has also been seen by this newspaper, states that the injuries were "survivable".

Last night, Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, described the findings as an appalling indictment of Labour defence policy.

"This is a catalogue of unacceptable errors," he said. "Contrary to the MoD's claims, it is clear that Cpl Wright's injuries were survivable."

Three of the soldiers who lost legs are suing the MoD for negligence. Their lawyer, Paul Harrington, who is also acting for Cpl Wright's parents, said: "There was a systemic failure by the Ministry of Defence in providing adequate resources, equipment and intelligence which led to a wholly avoidable death and serious injuries.""

Another warning of the harm done by prescribed medications, e.g. Zestril

Dr James LeFanu: Second Opinion

Extract from the article in the Sunday Telegraph:

"Suddenly feeling unwell? It's probably your medicine, writes James LeFanu

The news this week that drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's can turn people of impeccable character into pathological gamblers is a reminder that medication is the likely culprit for any novel or unusual symptom.

Surprisingly, this most reliable rule of thumb is often overlooked by doctors, as a lady from New South Wales discovered when prescribed Zestril for raised blood pressure. After six months she began to have "extremely debilitating" episodes of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. A gut specialist did all the usual tests and, finding nothing wrong, recommended the fashionable high-fibre diet.

Another six months elapsed with a further dozen or so episodes till she woke one morning with a terrifying swelling of the lips and tongue - diagnosed as the allergic condition angio oedema, which she was advised was caused by house dust mites. She says this "did not ring true", and on further investigation she found that both the tongue swelling and bowel symptoms were known side-effects of Zestril. Besides the gut specialist she had consulted four other doctors "but not one had made the connection"."

One wonders which is worse - the serious/harmful/dangerous side-effects of prescribed drugs, or the medical profession's scandalously widespread ignorance about them!...)o:

Note: Prescription drugs and doctors' lack of knowledge/understanding about their adverse side-effects are major causes of morbid obesity and all the many illnesses associated with obesity.

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

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.

Family Courts are keeping court judgements from mothers whose babies have been taken from them.

Courts won't reveal rulings in adoption cases - Sunday Telegraph

Extract

"Family courts are refusing to tell mothers why their babies are being taken away and put up for forced adoption.

Two mothers have told The Sunday Telegraph that their pain at losing their children was made worse by not knowing the grounds on which judges took the decisions.

Both women had their requests for copies of the judgments turned down repeatedly. As a result, they were prevented from launching legal battles to win their babies back, because appeals cannot be lodged without -written judgments.

Critics claimed that the cases are an extreme example of the secrecy that runs throughout the family court system. Earlier this summer, the Government abandoned plans to open up hearings to the media.

John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP and chairman of Justice for Families, said: "It seems quite strange that somebody can have their child removed and adopted, and the system will not give reasons.

"This arises from the secrecy of proceedings and the fact that people are allowed to misbehave professionally in the family courts without any fear of sanctions against them."

The cases are the latest in a series highlighted by this newspaper which have raised concerns about the workings of the family courts and social services. "

The secrecy of the family courts is a national scandal and harms many children and parents. Let us hope John Hemming manages to bring about much-needed improvements in this unjust, cruel system.

Richard Granger, the chief executive of Connecting for Health, the over-budget NHS IT project, has said he will leave his post in October.

Anger as best paid civil servant goes - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Britain's best-paid civil servant is to quit as the head of NHS information technology, claiming the new, accident-prone computer system is on track.

Richard Granger, the chief executive of Connecting for Health, said he would leave the post, and its £290,000-a-year salary, in October. "There is no doubt about the programme's achievability," said Mr Granger, who took up the role in October 2002. "Most of the building blocks are now in place."

Karen Jennings, the head of health at Unison, the NHS's biggest trade union, said Mr Granger's optimism was at odds with the views of the "majority of NHS staff".

She said: "Technically... things are finally coming together. But lessons must be learned from the way these over-ambitious, big-bang IT projects have been brought in late and so over-budget.""

Dr John Petrie, a surgeon who dramatically reduced his NHS waiting lists, is moving to work in Switzerland.

Surgeon praised by Blair gives up on UK - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Mr Petri has now announced he is leaving for Switzerland because nobody in the NHS has shown any interest in the practice. In Switzerland Mr Petri will earn £70,000 a year, as against the £125,000 he is paid by the NHS, a cut of £55,000 or a 44 per cent pay cut.

"I'm disillusioned because I worked on cutting waiting lists for years and achieved something significant," he said. "People told me 'You will never get there, this is impossible'. But when the results were evident I met Tony Blair, and [the Health Secretary] Patricia Hewitt. And then nothing happened."

Italian-born Mr Petri, 52, moved to Britain in 1994 having started his career in France. He quickly identified the British surgeons' habit of taking breaks between operations as one of the key factors in NHS waiting lists.

He began to employ French working methods by starting to operate earlier in the day, extending shifts by up to two hours, and introducing a "production line" system. He uses two anaesthetists, which means that there is always another patient ready to be operated on.

"People were waiting a year to have a hip replacement," he said. "By the end of the pilot scheme, they were waiting three weeks.

"Under the standard method, you wouldn't believe how badly things were organised. We have to find a way of surgeons not wasting their time. A surgeon is the most important link in the chain."

Mr Petri estimates that he can do five hip or knee replacements a day, compared with his colleagues' one or two. "People in the NHS are not paid by results," he explained. "If you do five operations or 500, you are paid the same."

I have always understood that surgeons make sure there are waiting lists in this country so that, in order to get treated sooner, patients will pay them for private treatment...


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.)

BBC report finds bias within corporation - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"After a year-long investigation the report, published today, maintains that the corporation’s coverage of day-to-day politics is fair and impartial.

But it says coverage of Live 8, the 2005 anti-poverty concerts organised by rock star campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono and writer Richard Curtis, failed to properly debate the issues raised.

Instead, at a time when the corporation was renegotiating its charter with the government, it allowed itself to effectively become a promotional tool for Live 8, which was strongly supported by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Geldof, Bono and Curtis were attempting to pressure world leaders at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, which was taking place at the same time, to help reduce poverty in developing countries under the banner 'Make Poverty History’. "

I've found the BBC, in my own dealings with it, heavily biased in favour of entrenched medical views about obesity, even though these views are completely unsupported by scientific evidence. So it is next door to impossible for me to get onto a phone-in about obesity to explain about fluid retention/salt sensitivity being the real cause of obesity, rather than overeating and/or inactivity. - The hate-filled callers who like to give vent to insults about the 'greed' and 'laziness' of fat people are always allowed time for an impassioned, ill-informed rant, but I am not given airtime to give the true, safe message that the best and fastest way to lose excess weight is to cut down on salt and salty food, give up dieting and eat plenty of good food, including fruit and fresh vegetables. This information is literally vital to some members of the groups vulnerable to salt, namely the steroid victims, who will suffer morbid obesity and many attendant painful chronic illnesses and an early death, unless they learn the facts about their bodies' inability to cope with salt and the need, therefore, to minimise the amount of sodium they consume. - ALL obese people need to know that dieting/'slimming' is dangerous, unnecessary and counter-productive. - 'Slimming' DOES NOT WORK and is harmful.

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.)

More about the benefits of giving up statins...

They're all going on a statin holiday - Dr James LeFanu writing in The Sunday Telegraph

Dr LeFanu gives further evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of patients who have given up taking their prescribed statins. - Of one woman he writes: "Since the start of her statin holiday a month ago, she sleeps well, with greatly increased energy, her rashes have cleared, her hair has regained its lift, her memory has improved and her writing skills returned. Her family doctor, she says, is "amazed". Those interested should read Dr Malcolm Kendrick's witty The Great Cholesterol Con (ISBN 978-1-84454-360-1)."

You can safely reduce cholesterol levels by minimising your intake of salt and salty food. There is sufficient sodium and chloride for the body's needs in fresh, unsalted food and drink without salting it. This will also lower the risk/severity of many other conditions of ill-health and you will find you have much more energy and vitality. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html

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 hospital patients dying as 10,000 injections are bungled...

Patients dying as 10,000 injections bungled - Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"Hospitals across Britain have been ordered to review how drugs are given to patients after figures revealed that almost 10,000 injections are bungled each year.

Mistakes led to the deaths of 25 patients and harmed more than 3,000 between January 2005 and June 2006, a study found.

In all, 14,000 errors were discovered during the 18 months assessed by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), a watchdog created to advise the NHS on safety matters.

Most involved administering wrong dosages. Other errors included injecting drugs into the wrong part of the patient's body, incorrectly formulating medicine, wrongly storing products, giving patients drugs to which they were allergic or failing to administer prescribed drugs. As a result, the NPSA has told all hospitals to carry out a risk assessment of the products they use and ordered them not to skimp on safety on the grounds of cost."

"Six years ago, Wayne Jowett, a teenager, died in agony after the highly toxic drug vincristine was injected into his spine when it should have been injected into a vein. The lethal blunder came when two chemotherapy drugs stored in similar syringes were mixed up.

The 18-year-old, who was in remission from leukaemia, suffered irreparable nerve damage, causing excruciating pain, followed by creeping paralysis and organ failure.

His father, also called Wayne, who has campaigned for the development of a new type of connector that would make it impossible to pump drugs intended for the veins into the spine, said that neither the NPSA alert nor the pilot schemes went far enough. Mr Jowett, 47, from Nottingham, said: "We don't think enough has been done. We are just waiting for a case like Wayne's to happen again.""

Australian pensioners are creating an unlikely crime wave by manufacturing a banned barbiturate in crude back-yard drug factories...

Pensioners defy death drug laws - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Australian pensioners are creating an unlikely crime wave by manufacturing a banned barbiturate in crude back-yard drug factories to ensure that they can have peaceful deaths.

The pensioners are also resorting to smuggling to obtain Nembutal, a powerful veterinary sedative which is illegal for human use in Australia. It is considered the most effective euthanasia drug available, and those found possessing it face a two-year jail term.

According to Exit International, the voluntary euthanasia organisation, about 120 elderly Australians have travelled to Mexico since last year to buy a lethal dose of Nembutal, disguising it as another form of medication or secreting it among their possessions to evade detection.

Another group set up a makeshift laboratory in a tent in a supporter's back garden in rural New South Wales. After 18 months and numerous failed attempts, they succeeded in making a substance with similar properties to Nembutal."


Lower your blood pressure and 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.)

Remarkable kidney transplant arrangement for two American men, Clinton Johnson and Young Hwang

Couples swap kidneys to save each other - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"When it comes to reality television, wife swaps are a recipe for disaster. But two American men have discovered that the concept has life-saving possibilities.

Two months ago, Clinton Johnson and Young Hwang were both suffering from kidney failure and facing uncertain waits for donor organs; their choices were between debilitating dialysis and death.

Now they have taken part in a remarkable transplant arrangement that has left each the proud owner of a new kidney - given by the other man's wife. Mr Johnson, 58, from Laurel in Maryland, who received a kidney from Sun Hae Hwang, said: "I had decided I did not want dialysis and had accepted that if I did not get a kidney, I was going to die. Now I can look at a full life. It is amazing."

Mr Hwang, a 64-year-old from Oakton in Virginia, who was given a kidney by Mr Johnson's wife Pat Divinnie, added: "My kidney is a gift from God through a person."

The organ swap was organised by the Washington Hospital Centre, in the American capital, after Mr Hwang had already been waiting three years for a kidney and Mr Johnson was told his condition was rapidly deteriorating."

Reduce your own risk of kidney failure by cutting down on salt and salty food. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

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.)

Thousands of traumatised soldiers have been denied payouts because Government-approved insurance scheme doesn't cover long-term psychological illness

Mentally ill troops denied pay-out by the Army's approved insurers - Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"Thousands of traumatised soldiers have been denied payouts because a Government-approved insurance scheme does not cover long-term psychological illnesses.

Troops medically discharged from the military after developing combat-related mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) do not receive compensation from the Pax insurance scheme, which is described to soldiers as "your best defence against the unexpected". Pax is owned by Aon Ltd, one of the five biggest insurance companies in the world.

The chance of developing a psychological illness after serving in combat operations is now greater than at any time since the Korean War half a century ago. Government figures show that more than 2,100 soldiers have returned from Iraq since 2003 suffering from some form of mental illness. Afghanistan will have produced further such casualties.

All forces personnel are encouraged to take out insurance before they deploy on military operations. Most choose the Pax policy because it is approved by the Ministry of Defence.
Although the policy states in the small print of its terms and conditions that it does not include cover for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or psychiatric illness, serving officers claim that such stipulations are rarely, if ever, spelled out to -soldiers."

"Up to 328 servicemen and women returned from Iraq with PTSD, which can lead to manic depression. Another 227 were diagnosed with other neurotic disorders. A further 188 had taken part in "psychoactive substance misuse", including alcohol and drug abuse, and the abuse of antidepressants."

More criticism of statins: - doubts are being raised over whether statins really live up to the hype about them

So much for the wonder drug - Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"More than three per cent of the population are now taking statins, at a cost to the NHS of £730 million last year. They have gained the reputation of being something of a wonder drug and are now prescribed not just for patients already suffering from heart disease but also for those identified as being at risk of developing cardiac problems in the future. The Government claims that its policy of encouraging the prescription of statins saves up to 7,000 lives a year.

Now, though, doubts are being raised over whether statins really live up to the hype. Dr James LeFanu, medical columnist of The Sunday Telegraph, highlighted the issue a month ago - and has since received more than 400 letters from readers who have had a less than happy experience with the drugs."

"So far, the Government and the medical establishment disagree with Dr LeFanu and those patients who have stopped taking their statins. The biggest British study into the effectiveness of the drug, published in The Lancet five years ago, followed 20,536 patients who took simvastatin or a placebo over five years. It concluded that for high-risk patients, the drug could cut the risk of heart attacks, strokes or the need for surgery to unblock arteries by about one third. Critically, it said prescribing should be widened to cover increasing numbers of patients, because it had been shown the drug was "so well tolerated and safe".

But the study, funded by the Medical Research Council and the British Heart Foundation, was unusual in one significant respect. Of 63,603 patients screened to take part in the trial, about half - 32,145 - were selected as eligible. Of these, more than one third were subsequently excluded, following a "run-in period" where they tried the drug for up to six weeks. Reasons for their exclusion varied. Overall, 26 per cent either dropped out or were deemed by researchers to be unlikely to keep taking the drugs for the full five years. A further 10 per cent were excluded because their GPs warned of increased risks due to existing health conditions. Others were excluded because of apparent side-effects, such as rising levels of liver enzymes and creatine, and, in some cases, developing muscle weakness.

So, of the 63,603 initially selected, only 20,536 continued - a mere 32 per cent. The chairman of the British Heart Foundation, Professor Peter Weissberg, admits: "It tried everyone on the drug and only the ones who didn't have side-effects were continued. That is unusual, but dozens of other trials have looked at this in a more standard way and have concluded that the side-effects are not major. One of the problems with clinical trials will always be the drop-out rate. The key thing to establish with this trial was: if you take this drug, does it save your life or not? It concluded that it does.""

It's also worth looking at relative risk and number needed to treat

Lose weight AND lower your high cholesterol level AND lower your risk of heart attack 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.)

Just a little bit more about statins and the benefits of no longer taking them...

On today's Letters Page of the Sunday Telegraph - Letters Page - there is the following letter:

"I threw away my statins after reading Dr James LeFanu (Second Opinion, March 18) and I am a new man. The insufferable total fatigue, the aches and pains, the fainting fits, and more have all gone. I want to tell everyone!

D J T Williams, Shurdington, Gloucestershire"

That's good news! - And since the writer wants 'to tell everyone' I don't suppose s/he minds my copying the letter into this blogpost...(o:

And here is a bit more about statins that is in Dr LeFanu's Second Opinion article in the Sunday Telegraph today:

"Finally, a couple of FAQs on the great statin issue. Could they be causing my aching hips, irritability, skin rash, forgetfulness, etc? Perhaps, but not necessarily: the only way to find out is to give them a rest.

Can stopping them suddenly be dangerous? No, the hazards they are meant to protect against, while real, are long-term."


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.)