NHS’s relentless focus on finance and productivity is failing patient safety

Patients’ concerns too often go ignored, says England’s first patient safety commissioner “The NHS’s relentless focus on finance and productivity is failing patient safety,” argues patient safety commissioner Henrietta Hughes in an interview for The BMJ today. “The patient’s anecdote is the canary in the coal mine,” she says. It’s the thing ...

2024-08-01T08:51:20+00:009 July 2024|Press release, The BMJ|

Intensive voice treatment more effective than NHS speech therapy for Parkinson’s disease

Results highlight need to optimise speech therapy resources, say researchers An intensive voice treatment developed in the USA and known as the Lee Silverman voice treatment (LSVT LOUD) is more effective than conventional NHS speech and language therapy or no therapy for people with Parkinson’s disease, finds a trial published ...

2024-08-01T08:49:31+00:009 July 2024|Press release, The BMJ|

FDA staff leaving for industry jobs given “behind the scenes” lobbying advice

Practice highlights “critical loophole” in the revolving door between the FDA and industry The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tells staff leaving for industry jobs that, despite restrictions on post-employment lobbying, they are still permitted to influence the agency, reveals an investigation by The BMJ today. Internal emails, obtained under a ...

2024-07-02T15:12:11+00:002 July 2024|Press release, The BMJ|

Poorer teen mental ability linked to as much as tripling in stroke risk before age of 50

Associations held after factoring in diabetes and limiting age of first stroke up to 40 Assessments beyond traditional stroke risk factors now needed, suggest researchers A lower level of mental ability during the teenage years may be linked to as much as a tripling in the risk of having a ...

Junior rank, male sex, younger age strongly linked to ‘harmful gambling’ among UK military

Nearly 1 in 4 say gambling has affected their personal/professional lives over past year Better, earlier, and targeted support needed, urge researchers Several indicative factors, including junior rank, male sex, and younger age, are strongly linked to ‘harmful gambling’ among serving UK military personnel, finds an analysis of survey responses, ...

2024-07-05T09:01:20+00:0028 June 2024|BMJ Military Health, Press release|

Government’s failure to fortify all flour and rice with sufficient folic acid will lead to avoidable birth defects, warns expert

Current plan will prevent only about 20% of neural tube defects but full fortification could prevent about 80% The UK government’s failure to fortify all flour and rice with the vitamin folic acid “will result in more deaths and birth defects every year that could have been prevented,” argues Professor ...

2024-06-20T16:05:41+00:0020 June 2024|Press release, The BMJ|

Heavy resistance training around retirement preserves vital leg strength years later

Depletion of this is strong predictor of death in older people, say researchers Twelve months of heavy resistance training—exercise that makes muscles work against a force—around retirement preserves vital leg strength years later, show the follow up results of a clinical trial, published online in the open access journal BMJ Open ...

Private school and/or ‘higher status’ university education linked to better mid-life health

Alongside level of education reached, institution type may also be influential say researchers  A private (fee-paying) school and/or a ‘higher status’ (Russell Group*) university education may be linked to better mid-life health—at least in the UK—suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Alongside the level of ...

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