Late February and early March 2004

Simon Atkins, a Bristol GP, has written about his experiences of the Childrens Casualty Unit at the BRI. His 5 year old child stuck a plastic bead up his nose. They spent 5 ½ hours in the Childrens Hospital waiting for someone to tend to them and pull it out. They watched ambulance loads of drunken teenagers and lads with head injuries file past into the treatment area. It took well over an hour for the triage nurse to get to us and then we were left to wait and wait and wait on hard plastic chairs until the early hours of Saturday to see the doctor. By the time we were finely called \"my bum was so numb I could feel nothing below the waist\".

Ken Roddy died on February 29th 2004. Ken was the second son of the leader of the Methodist Church in Northern Ireland. He was educated in Belfast and qualified in medicine, from Queens University, Belfast, in 1946. He trained as an ENT surgeon in Belfast and in London. In 1960 he took up a consultant post in Bristol and was responsible for setting up the ENT Department at Southmead Hospital in the 1960s. He was a respected clinician and surgeon. He retired at the age of 67. His wife died as a result of a fall 6years ago.

Bob Woodward, one of Bristols most prolific fund raisers, has announced that he is stepping down from his numerous charity roles. Mr Woodward founded Britains biggest childrens charity CLIC. He has dedicated much of his life to raising money for good causes following the death of his 11 year old son from cancer. He started raising money for CLIC in 1974.

The cancer charity CLIC supported the findings of a report that is said to show that the long-term health of child cancer survivors is at risk because they are being denied follow-up care. Clinical guidelines on the level of follow-up care have been available since 1995. However a study by the UK Childrens Cancer Study Group, which developed the guidelines, found that there were important variations between clinicians as to when their patients were discharged from regular follow-up.

An out-of-hours doctors services has been criticised after it refused to visit a man complaining of severe stomach pains, because he did not have a telephone. Brisdoc. The Co-operative, which provides On Call doctors for 90,700 people in South Bristol, said that it could not send a doctor to see Mr James Cheacker when his neighbour phoned for help. Doctors could only deal with patients who have a home phone or a mobile.

Elderly people will soon be able to be treated at home instead of in hospital in a pioneering scheme which brings together both health and South Gloucester Social Services staff. The Chief Executive of the South Gloucestershire NHS Primary Care Trust stated that there would be a seamless service providing rehabilitation and support for people coming out of hospital or needing support at home instead of going into hospital.

Roger Berry, Kingswood MP, is campaigning to reduce barriers for disabled people. By October every business/service from local shops to restaurants, health clubs, dentists surgeries and supermarkets will need to become more user-friendly. This is part of the Disability Discrimination Act.

Mr Roger Berry said that a new law should be introduced to give carers of sick and disabled people more legal rights. More than 10,000 of his constituents are carers. They provide an essential support service saving the country huge sums of money. He warned that carers were being taken for granted and were badly treated as a result.

Mr Doug Naysmith has welcomed a survey that shows that most people would prefer to stay at home when they become ill or elderly. Three-quarters of people would prefer to stay in their home rather than go into a care home.

A new hotline is to be set up to clear the City of discarded needles that litter parks and play areas.

A campaign has been started in South Gloucestershire to persuade people to return unwanted medicines. There are now special collection bins in all pharmacies and unwanted medications are collected regularly from them by licensed contractors.

A recent study has shown that in the Avon, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire Health Authority area 67% of children are registered with a dentist (ie. a third of children are not registered). In September 2002 there were 787 dentists working for the SHA. Twelve months later this figure had dropped to 679. A new £350,000 facility opened its doors to patients in Stoke Bishop last month. This surgery is in Bell Barn Road and has a capacity for 6000 people.

A vaccine preservative is causing a storm after it was linked with childhood autism. The preservative, Thiomersal, is used in vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. The US Food and Drug Administration and the European Union have called for the agent to be phased-out. However many GPs are still using the substance.

Blood donors in the Bristol region are being urged to sign up to the Bone Marrow Register. Only 30% of bone marrow transplants are carried out from a related donor. The other 70% rely on finding a match with an unrelated volunteer donor.

South West businesses are putting their competitiveness at risk by failing to use the skills of the regions disabled workforce. This is said to be the joint message from the Governments Minister, Maria Eagle. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics disabled people make up nearly 20% of the countrys working age population. However, they find it 3 times as hard to find work as people who are not disabled.

Roger Berry, MP, recently hosted a reception by SENSE the National Deaf/Blind Charity. This charity has published a survey of services for deaf/blind people. Only 4% of Britains 23,000 deaf/blind people are provided with communicator guides. However, Bristol City Council provides communicators for 51 people one of the highest figures in the country.

The Thornbury based Meningitis Research Foundation launched a new booklet aimed at junior doctors in a bid to save lives and end further clinical errors. Some junior doctors are still failing to diagnose the \"killer disease\".

At least 13 senior doctors in Bristol have backed a pressure group calling for the end of the NHS as it stands at the moment. They were among 500 who launched a new group called Doctors for Reform. Professor Edwin Gale and Mr Richard Spicer say that the NHS is heading for problems unless radical changes are made. The group want a compulsory medical insurance system to be introduced.

Several articles have dealt with the possible closure of day centres for disabled and elderly people in Bristol.

A 3 year study of the work of the Commission to Health Improvement (CHI) by the Kings Fund has suggested that the bodys assessments have been based on little more than a \"rag-bag\" of reflections. The report suggests that CHI has not got a proper grasp of important but nebulous aspects of good organisation such as leadership and culture.

Mental health care in Bristol is said to get a \"boost\" after an £18 million project to develop new facilities in and around the City has got the go ahead. There is to be a new mental health unit at Callington Road in South Bristol, a new adult acute unit for South Gloucestershire and a new community mental health house at Hanham Hall. In addition the mental health medium secure unit at Blackberry Hospital in Fishponds will be expanded. Units will be built round a communal \"street\" where a sports hall, library, learning facilities, and a café will be located. The expanded facilities are due to open in October 2005.

Five years ago Michael Martin was bludgeoned to death by his schizophrenic son. Eighteen months ago a report by the Strategic Health Authority was published. However the Chairman of the enquiry has said that some of the 20 recommendations had not yet been fully adopted. The main criticism focused on the failure to introduce a one-stop 24 hour phone line that carers and relatives could contact when in need of help and advice.

The number of teenagers being treated for sexually transmitted diseases has risen sharply. The Milne Centre for sexual health turns away about 550 people a week. Bristol has less than half the average number of sexual health doctors and nurses found in the rest of the UK.

New research has shown that Bath and North East Somerset has the fourth lowest teenage pregnancy rate in Britain. Twenty-two out of a thousand girls aged between 15 and 17 get pregnant compared to the national rate of 42.6 of the same age per 1000.

A new fertility clinic that will specialise in helping lesbian and single women have babies is being opened in Bristol at Litfield House, Clifton. The premium package offers a 9 donation programme at £2947. There are also a number of services including counselling and ovulation kits.

The problems and issues surrounding binge drinking are to be discussed at an international conference being organised in Bristol in November 2004. The conference is being organised by the Alcohol and Research Trust which is based in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England.

Two anti-psychotic drugs should not be used to treat older people with dementia due to an increased risk of stroke.

This advice was given by the Committee for Safety of Medicines after reviewing the data for Risperidone and Olanzapine.

A smartly dressed con-woman tricked her way into an elderly couples home by saying that she was sent by their doctor. She left abruptly and it was later found that money had been stolen.

UBHT has performed well in a national survey of NHS staff. It was compared against a number of London trusts and came out favourably using 11 criteria. The criteria included opportunities for flexible working, quality of senior management/leadership, job satisfaction and work pressure felt by staff.

The Childrens Unit at Frenchay Hospital has received a donation of £10,447 from Axa Life money raised by local fund raisers. This money will be spent on specialist beds and a support scheme for young neurology patients.

Private hospitals in Bristol will be paid by the Welsh Assembly to operate on patients in a bid to reduce hospital waiting lists in Wales. The Welsh Assembly has launched a £5 million \"assault\" to make sure that no one waits more than 18 months for in-patient or day-care treatment. NHS hospitals in Bristol have not been approached by private hospitals would be able to take patients.

Allan Higgs, a Tory spokesman, made a plea for star grading hospitals to be dropped. Local hospitals were losing out. North Bristol NHS Trust and UBHT do not have a single star between them. Hospitals which rate 3 stars earn a million pounds a year extra and can invest £10 million in improving wards and accommodation without Government approval.

A report in the Times states that Sir Ian Kennedy, Chairman of the Commission for Health Care and Audit and Inspection (CHAI) has confirmed that the star rating system for hospitals is to be abandoned. It will remain in place for the next 2 years but after that he would be developing an entirely new approaching to rating hospitals.

A man from Bradley Stoke went to Thailand to have his knees replaced to escape long NHS waiting lists.

A man of 37 had died of Legionnaires disease acquired when he was in the Royal United Hospital, Bath.

A revamp of Southmeads maternity unit has been delayed for at least 18 months because of the financial crisis.

A specialist ward looking after patients with cystic fibrosis is to undergo a £175,000 revamp to improve the facilities in one of the oldest wards in Britain Ward 23 at the BRI.

A number of articles deal with the Bristol Health Services Plan. Several public meetings have been held but so far the attendance appears to be low. Meetings are also being held at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

UBHT, which runs the BRI, has unveiled its proposals to replace the old building. There is to be a new building at the back of the Queens building adjacent to the Childrens Hospital. This will replace the 169 ward accommodation with a modern 136 bed facility and could be up to 6 floors high. The project is at an early stage and could cost in the region of £65 million. If the go ahead is given it could be opened by 2009. Other measures being considered include refurbishing the Queens building and the King Edward Building.

A meeting to discuss the future of hospitals in North Bristol was recently held at Winterbourne. Many of those who attended the meeting were critical of the PCTs saying they believed that the decision on the future of the hospitals has already been decided. Consultation was \"just lip service\".

Mr Paul Lear, Clinical Director for Surgery at North Bristol NHS Trust, said that there should be a single hospital in North Bristol. At present some surgical teams were duplicated on both Frenchay and Southmead sites.

Mr Paul Bennett, Project Director of the South Bristol Community Hospital Project, wrote to say that a new hospital would offer a walk in service for minor illness and injury, out-patient clinics, day surgery, and rehabilitation. Hip replacements and cataract surgery were not part of the plans for the new hospital.

A report due to be published by the Global Initiative for Asthma shows that the UK has a higher percentage of 13 and 14 year olds with asthma than anywhere else in the world. Figures show that around 37% of children in the 13-14 year old age group in Scotland, had experienced asthmatic symptoms in the last 12 months. The percentage for Wales was 34% and England 30%. The UK also has one of the highest rates of allergy in the world with rates for eczema and asthma doubling in the last 20 years.

The Enuresis Resource and Information Centre (ERIC) in Kingswood is carrying out a 4 year project into various childhood problems. These include bladder and bowel control amongst school children. The charity has recently been awarded a grant of £250,000 from the National Lotteries Community Fund to allow this work to continue. The study will be based on the experiences of 14,000 families who make up the University of Bristols Children of the 90s project.

Researchers at Frenchay Hospital are studying new ways to deploy the most effective chemotherapy treatment for patients with brain tumours.

Two Bristol scientists claim that they have discovered a test that could help stop deadly hospital infections in their tracks. The test is the brainchild of Professor Norman Ratcliffe at the University of the West of England and Dr Chris Probert from the University of Bristol. The test works by fingerprinting the different strains of infections. It is said that about £60 million a year is spent by the NHS in fighting infections in hospital.

Scientists at the University of Bristol have developed a new method for predicting whether skin cancers will spread to other parts of the body. The research has been published in the British Journal of Cancer and is based at Frenchay Hospital. The work involves measuring the density of the lymph vessels around malignant melanomas.

Figures released by the World Health Organisation show that Britain has the 3rd highest rate of asthma in the world. Forty percent of children are said to have an allergy. A new project called the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network has been launched. It is likely to receive £9.8 million from the European Commission. It involves 25 universities and research institutes and will look at our home environments, dietary changes, and pollution. The key areas of investigation by the project will be the effect of bacteria-free homes on allergies. Dr John Henderson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Child Health at Bristol University, said that he believed that indoor, rather than outdoor, pollution played more of a role in the cause of modern allergies.

Professor Neil Scolding, Professor of Clinical Neurosciences at Bristol University, has been awarded a Grant of £250,000 to further develop stem cell treatments which help to repair damage caused by multiple sclerosis. This is the first time that the Multiple Sclerosis Society funded this type of research. Studies have already shown that stem cells can be grown in large quantities from adult human bone marrow. The team now hopes to discover whether these cells will repair myelin.

A study of 7 year old children in Bristol has shown differences in blood pressure levels related to whether the youngsters were breast or bottle fed as babies. The study is based on data collected by the Children of the 90s project.

It is said that nearly 100,000 pensioners in the South West have no support with anyone at all. The Womens Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) claims that in the worse cases pensioners are driven to depression and suicide. A recent survey has shown that while 72% of elderly people see a maximum of 2 people each day, their younger counterparts are often in contact with more than 20 a day. Three-quarters of those surveyed said that they rarely or never ventured outside their homes.

RL-H

Joint Editor