Revolutionary Parkinson’s treatment
A new Parkinson’s treatment that delivers a drug directly to the brain has been tested in patients.
Scans have shown visual evidence of improvements to affected areas of the brain, although some experts have warned it’s too early to know whether this will result in improvements in symptoms.
Read more from the BBC.
New NHS help for Diabulimia patients
Specialist NHS help will now be offered to people with Diabulimia, NHS England has announced. Diabulimia is a rare eating disorder affecting around 55,000 people, and occurs when type 1 diabetics stop taking insulin to lose weight.
Read more from the Guardian.
Survey finds Two fifths of GPs want to quit in next five years
A survey published in BMJ Open has revealed that four in ten GPs intend to quit general practice in the next five years. The University of Warwick sent a survey to all 1697 GPs asking for their views on workload pressures and how this is impacting their career intentions. Results suggested that this was in fact a key player, with 42% of respondents claiming they would leave the profession.
Read more from BMJ.
Brexit bulletin
Medical air freight costs passed could be passed on to trusts
It’s been revealed that a no-deal Brexit could see medical air freight costs passed on to hospitals.
The Royal College of Radiologists met with the Department of Health and Social Care last week, reporting back that officials were unable to confirm whether funding would be provided to trusts to help with the costs.
Read more from the HSJ.
Quote of the week
“The bill I’m presenting today will mean pagers and fax machines are phased out by 2021 in NHS hospitals and wider NHS bodies such as health trusts, clinical commissioning groups and quangos. By replacing them with newer, digital systems we can give our doctors and nurses better tools at work, empower hospitals and NHS trusts to adopt more advanced technologies across the board, and ultimately improve patient safety and care by accelerating the NHS’s journey into a new digital age.”
This week’s quote of the week comes from, Alan Mak MP, the Conservative MP for Havant and founding chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on the fourth industrial revolution, speaking about passing the National Health Service (Prohibition of Fax Machines and Pagers) Bill.
Read more from the The Times.