'Dehydration contributes to the death of more than 800 hospital patients every year.
Another 300 die malnourished. The latest report – by the Care Quality Commission – found patients frequently complained they were spoken to in a ‘condescending and dismissive’ manner.
The watchdog said three of 12 NHS trusts visited in the past three months were failing to meet the most basic standards required by law.
They were: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust in North London.
The findings follow a joint campaign by the Mail and the Patients Association last year which exposed shocking examples of substandard care.
Similar failings were highlighted earlier this year by the Health Service Ombudsman who cited cases of patients left to become so thirsty they could not cry for help.
Since February, a team of inspectors from the CQC – including a nurse and an elderly patient – have been visiting 100 NHS trusts unannounced to check elderly patients are treated with dignity.
They found other, less serious concerns at a further three trusts: Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Homerton University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London and the Wye Valley NHS Trust – meaning just half of hospitals were providing the most basic standards of care.'
"A receding hairline can be a good thing, according to US scientists, who say men who go bald by 30 appear to be less likely to develop prostate cancer.
Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine studied 2,000 men aged between 40 and 47.
They were able to link high levels of the male hormone testosterone in those who lose their hair earlier with a lower risk of tumours.
The findings are published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology.
Half of the men in this study had suffered prostate cancer.
Researchers compared the rate of tumours in those who said their hair had thinned by the age of 30 with those who did not suffer hair loss.
Men who had started to develop bald spots on the top of their heads as well as receding hairlines had a 29% to 45% reduction in the risk of prostate cancer. "
"Researchers at three hospitals in Frankfurt studying 200 healthy males for five years have found that staring at women's breasts is beneficial to men's health and it increases life expectancy."
"According to Dr. Karen Weatherby, a gerontologist and author of the study, gawking at women’s breasts is a healthy practice, almost at par with an intense exercise regime, that prolongs the lifespan of a man by five years.
She added, "Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well-endowed female, is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics work-out." [...]
. . . the researchers noted that the men who stared at the breasts of females on a regular basis exhibited lower blood pressure, slower resting pulse rates and lesser episodes of coronary artery disease."
"... he screamed to doctors that he could hear them - but could make no sound. 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state."
"'I dreamed myself away,' he added, tapping his tale out with the aid of a computer."
"Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests.But as this does not fit their world view that alcohol is evil, how sharia law compliant of them, they have to immediately state that:
The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men.
Female drinkers did not benefit to the same extent, the study in Heart found. "
"Experts are critical, warning heavy drinking can increase the risk of other diseases, with alcohol responsible for 1.8 million deaths globally per year.
The study was conducted in Spain, a country with relatively high rates of alcohol consumption and low rates of coronary heart disease. "
"So I just want everybody to know, Congress will have time to read the bill. They will have time to debate the bill. They will have all of August to review the various legislative proposals. When we come back in September, I will be available to answer any question that members of Congress have. If they want to come over to the White House and go over line by line what’s going on, I will be happy to do that."At least two Congressmen a Representative and a Senator have tried to take Barack Obama up on his offer: Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN), Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas), chair of the Congressional Health Care Caucus, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) ans Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), oddly they have received no reply.
"Mr NotaSheep found himself in hospital very recently with a severe allergic reaction. Once pumped full of antihistamines and pain killers what I really wanted to do was to sleep, but sleep on a NHS Acute Observation Ward is not easy to come by. One patient talked to himself all night; "Ow, ow, I wanna go home, go home, I wanna go home" for six hours, he was not a well man but the nurses did nothing, surely a side room could have been found for him. Then there were the nurses who chatted all night about this and that, only occasionally looking in on a patient who needed treatment, I was visited not at all that night, it was Mrs NotaSheep who gave me water and a few bites of an apple. To make sleep harder to come by, the ward lights were left on all night in the male ward (although they were off in the next door female ward - same nurses' station). In the morning after some of the nurses had discussed career paths, spoken to their various family members about the day ahead and chatted to the cleaners, Mr non-stop talk was moved to a proper ward and the lights were turned off, leaving the ward in semi darkness for half an hour before the sun came flooding in. I would have thought that sleep was a good medicine, if so I was denied it during my stay. The staff were generally friendly and competent and out of the half a dozen or so nurses and two doctors I saw, at least one spoke English like a native. The instructions from the East European Doctor re tablet taking were no helped by his inability to cope with English tenses, which made our conversation over when I should take tablets as opposed to when I had taken tablets, slightly surreal. "
"What has happened within the last 48 hours is what Cameron has feared most because it lays bare the Tories' deep ambivalence towards the NHS."The Labour party love to call Conservatives unpatriotic when they disagree with Labour policy, remember the similar Labour slurs when George Osborne said that Labour Government policies could trigger a run on the pound?
"****CAMPAIGN JOBS FOR OBAMA'S HEALTHCARE PLAN! ($10-$15 /hr) FT****Paying people to campaign in support of his healthcare proposals, it's the American way. I presume we'll still get people talking about the power and money of the private healthcare companies, ignoring the power and money of organisations such as CALPIRG.
...
We need people like you to become involved with healthcare reform—and make some money in the process. Joining this campaign will allow you to work with some of the most motivated people in the region. Together, we can make change happen. Earn $4,000-$6,000 this summer! "
"has offered to help some of the world's poorest countries to make healthcare free – starting with pregnant women and children – in a push to widen access to doctors across Africa and Asia.Meanwhile British taxpayers are being denied pain killing injections for back pain:
The Department for International Development (DfID) is among the largest donors to many developing countries, and has pledged to spend £6bn on health by 2015. Brown hopes to use an expanding aid budget to influence the way public services are delivered on the ground.
The prime minister has written to several governments, including those of Kenya, Nepal and Liberia, urging them to consider making healthcare free, and offering Britain's help with the transition. DfID said that could mean help with technical assistance, drugs and ensuring that doctors and nurses receive fair pay deals."
"The Government's drug rationing watchdog says "therapeutic" injections of steroids, such as cortisone, which are used to reduce inflammation, should no longer be offered to patients suffering from persistent lower back pain when the cause is not known.
Instead the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is ordering doctors to offer patients remedies like acupuncture and osteopathy.
Specialists fear tens of thousands of people, mainly the elderly and frail, will be left to suffer excruciating levels of pain or pay as much as £500 each for private treatment.
The NHS currently issues more than 60,000 treatments of steroid injections every year. NICE said in its guidance it wants to cut this to just 3,000 treatments a year, a move which would save the NHS £33 million. "
