May 2003

What the Newspapers said (Mainly the Evening Post) in April/May 2003

Dr Christian Oakland, Consultant in Accident and Emergency Medicine at Frenchay Hospital, was badly injured when the balloon that he was piloting crashed.

Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes had a heart attack on board an aircraft at Bristol International Airport. He was treated by the airport fire-fighters and taken to the BRI. An emergency bypass operation was undertaken.

A new multiple sclerosis centre is to be established at Bradley Stoke.

Plans to build a new medical centre and apartments on the same plot where Sainsburys want to put a new supermarket have been submitted to the City Council. Doctors based at the Westbury-on-Trym surgery in Falcondale Road are putting forward the plans which are widely supported locally.

Health authorities in Bristol, and the surrounding areas, may shortly receive powers that will allow them to permit fluoride to be introduced into drinking water. The Company only uses chlorine and other purification treatments and has never added fluoride to drinking water.

The Chairwoman of North Bristol NHS Trust, Professor Phyllida Parsloe, has resigned on account of the over-spend in the budget of £44 million pounds.

Mr Peter Hollinshead has started work at the North Bristol NHS Trust having been seconded from the Strategic Health Authority. He is described as a \"financial trouble-shooter\" and has been sent in to try to balance the books for the year ahead.

Childrens Hospice South West has received £2 million worth in donations from 2 city charities. They have been given planning permission to establish a hospice at Charlton farm near Wraxall.

St Peters Hospice celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

A recent audit commission report has found that more than half the hospital Trusts in England have been diverting cash away from long-term improvements in order to keep the services going. The North Bristol NHS Trust was picked-out as the worst example of the cash pressures. The Commission found that money was being transferred away from IT, medical equipment and building maintenance.

Dr Liam Fox has attacked moves which could stop doctors from \"blowing the whistle\" on waiting list fiddles under a new \"gagging order\" drawn up by the Government. The Government has been accused of trying to \"silence\" consultants.

Professor Peter Wells has been made an FRS along with 2 other scientists at Bristol University. Professor Wells was elected for his contribution to the application of engineering and physics in medicine.

The Industry Therapy Organisation has gained several new packing contracts for its factory in Bristol. The ITO was set-up 43 years ago to provide training and work for people with long-term mental health problems and learning difficulties. Two years ago it came within days of closing but with the help of local businesses and charities sufficient funds were raised to stave off the shut-down.

Some Bristol general practitioners have reacted \"furiously\" to Government plans to make overweight people and heavy smokers sign contracts with the NHS promising to live a healthier lifestyle, in return for treatment.

Staff shortages at Southmead Hospital have left a 7 year old boy without a wheelchair for 18 months. The Trust stated that the service saw about 200 clients every month and was under increasing pressure as the number and complexity of referrals increased. The delays have been due to staff shortages.

Two programmes to develop electronic patient record systems across Bristol, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, Dorset and Devon, have been \"ditched\" by the Government after the DOH refused to fund them. The total cost was expected to reach £114 million.

Professor Gianni Angelini, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at the BRI, has been elected a member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in recognition of his work.

The Conservatives state that the number of people waiting for surgery rose by 29% between December 2000 and March 2003. The waiting list for the UBHT grew by 14% over a 27 month period.

Workers in the West take more sick leave than anyone else in the country according to a recent survey carried out by Crown Computers.

Building work on a £3 million extension to a health centre at Easton has begun. The centre houses the Charlotte Keel Health Centre.

Bristol doctors have said that they are concerned about proposals which would let them prescribe heroin to addicts.

The Bristol City Council has published a Directory of Employment Services and Information about the range of support services for disabled people looking for, and wishing to stay in, employment.

More than one thousand people in Bristol, waiting for cataract operations, have been told that their wait will shortly be over. The Department of Health has allocated £56 million pounds which it says will help to wipe out long waiting lists for the operation.

Astra Zeneca has launched a £90 million investment in the Bristol area. Two new plants have been opened. The drug Rosuvastotin, an anti-cholesterol agent, will be manufactured there.

It is likely that a hospital will shortly be built in South Bristol. Hawkfield Meadows in Whitchurch, was earmarked for a hospital in the early 1970s. Now, this and a number of other sites, are being considered for a community hospital where orthopaedic operations, such as hip and knee replacements, would be carried out as well as a number of other procedures. The hospital would also be used for intermediate care.

Managers at the BRI had to close 3 operating theatres because they were too dirty for surgery to be undertaken. It is understood that consultants refused to work in the theatres on Level 6 of the hospital. Some operations had had to be cancelled.

Bristol Hospital Trusts are in negotiation with private nursing agencies in a bid to establish a \"fixed\" rate of pay for each grade of staff. It appears that various companies have been charging different rates for different Trusts on different days.

North Bristol Trust has stated that it has achieved the Governments target of having no patient waiting for more than 21 weeks for an out-patient appointment.

There are now 25 matrons at the various hospitals in Bristol. They have been issued with new uniforms in a bid to raise awareness of their role. The initiative is said to reflect patients wishes to bring back easily identifiable, highly visible, accessible and authoritative figures. There are now more than two thousand \"modern matrons\" throughout the country.

A new £1.5 million operating theatre was opened at Southmead Hospital recently to help to treat an extra 500 orthopaedic patients a year.

A new secure Mental Health Unit with 120 beds is set to get the go-ahead in Stapleton. It will be built at the rear of Blackberry Hill Hospital.

A new Centre dedicated to studying the health of children and teenagers is opening in Bristol. The Centre for Child and Adolescent Health is being launched in a joint venture between Bristol University and the University of the West of England. The Centre will work with local Health Trusts and other groups, including the Institute of Child Health in London, to research a range of health issues linked to childhood.

Dr Angela Hague, at the University of Bristol, has received a grant of about £130 thousand to investigate the role of certain proteins in oral and skin cancer cells.

Scientists at the University of Bristol had been awarded £1.2 million by an American research agency to study how obesity is linked to childrens exercise and activity levels. The children are all members of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. They have been followed since birth in the largest on-going population study of its kind.

Richard Langton-Hewer

June 2003