Needless Diabetes-Linked Antibiotic Prescriptions Cost NHS $10 Million Per Year

February 13, 2012

Activist Post

By Anthony Gucciardi

“Antibiotics do way more harm than good. You should only take them if you want a candida overgrowth.” –KTRN

Antibiotics are not only breeding illness among the population, but are also so vastly over-prescribed that it is costing the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) the equivalent of over 10 and a half million dollars per year. According to new research, doctors are dishing out more than 1.6 million unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for common ailments such as sinusitis and acute coughs. The result: an unnecessary and massive financial hit.

Conducted by researchers from Cardiff University and led by Professor Chris Butler, the two-year study worked with 68 GP practices in Wales. Finding that antibiotics were needlessly given to patients without effect, doctors were provided data that could limit the massive prescription count. Given data regarding antibiotic prescribing methods and resistance data, the researchers concluded that even a 5.5% reduction in antibiotic prescribing could save over $1,000 per individual practice — and cut over 2 million dollars per year in worthless antibiotic prescriptions.

Widespread Prescriptions, Massive Adverse Reaction < The high volume of antibiotic prescriptions — deemed needless or not — are heavily contributing to the illnesses many individuals are facing on a daily basis. This has to do with how antibiotics impact not only the ‘bad’ bacteria that could be making you sick, but also the ‘good’ bacteria that actually prevent illness and maintain gut health. Of course destroying the bad bacteria is good, but the negative effect on your gut health that results from antibiotics is quite serious. Your gut is a central function of the immune system, and when compromised your body’s “security system” begins to weaken.

Click here for the full report.

Scientists Introduce Edible Microchips That Track Medical Information

January 18, 2012

The Independent

By Steve Connor

An edible microchip that records the precise details of a patient’s pill regime will be available in Britain by the end of year following a commercial deal that opens the door to an era of digital medicines.

An American biomedical company has signed up with a British healthcare firm to sell digestible sensors, each smaller than a grain of sand, that can trigger the transmission of medical information from a patient’s body to the mobile phone of a relative or carer.

The aim is to develop a suite of “intelligent medicines” that can help patients and their carers keep track of which pills are taken at what time of day, in order to ensure that complex regimes of drugs are given the best possible chance of working effectively.

Ultimately, the plan is for every one of the many pills taken each day by some of the most chronically-ill patients, especially those with mental health problems, to be digitally time-stamped as they are digested within the body.

The healthcare company Lloyds- pharmacy said it intends to sell the edible microchips of Proteus Biomedical of California by the end of the year, as part of a trial to test whether NHS patients would be prepared to pay privately to ensure that they or their relatives take the right medicines at the right time.

“There is a huge problem with medicines not being taken correctly,” said Steve Gray, healthcare services director of Lloydspharmacy.

“Anyone taking several medications knows how easy it can be to lose track of whether or not you’ve taken the correct tablets that day,” he added.

“Add to that complex health issues and families caring for loved ones who many not live with them and you can appreciate the benefits of an information service that helps patients to get the most from their treatments and for families to help them to remain well.”

Click here for the full report from The Independent.

Doctors Go Their Whole Career Without Assessments

February 8th, 2011

BBC

By: Nick Triggle

The NHS must up its game to ensure the formal system of doctor checks can start at the end of next year, MPs say.

Currently medics can go for their whole career without facing any assessment of their competency after qualifying.

Plans were first muted in 2000 to rectify this and the idea now is to start five-year revalidations in 2012.

But the House of Commons’ health committee said despite the years of preparation there were still flaws in the plans which needed resolving.

In particular, the cross-party group of MPs said there had been little attention given to how to deal with poor performing doctors.

Conflicting views

They said the General Medical Council, which will oversee the revalidation process, needed to issue clearer guidance.

It also said the annual appraisal system, which will underpin the checks, was unsatisfactory.

It said in some parts of the NHS it was not happening at all, while in others it was not taken seriously enough.

MPs were told of one case where a GP appraisal consisted of a discussion about a walking holiday.

The report said the issue of dealing with doctors who cannot speak good English needed to be resolved too. There has been conflicting views about whether the GMC is able to take this into account.

But the health committee said the regulator needed to address the issue and if it could not take language skills into account it should “say so publicly and tell Parliament what needs to be done”.

The reforms are designed to help protect patients from scandals such as the Shipman case.

Dr Harold Shipman, a GP from Hyde in Greater Manchester, murdered more than 200 people over a period of 23 years after his work went largely unchecked.

Under the new system, doctors will be expected to demonstrate they meet clinical standards and have kept up to speed with the latest developments in their field, while appraisals will include feedback from patients and colleagues.

Audits of how patients fare after seeing their doctor will also be included, alongside a requirement to ensure there are no causes for concern in how a doctor works.

GMC chief executive Niall Dickson agreed there must be no delay in the introduction of the new system.

“We are working on a number of other fronts to make sure revalidation is fit for purpose.”

On the issue of language testing, he said the GMC was working with the Department of Health to resolve the situation.

Click here for the full report from BBC News

Drug Companies ‘Exploit Legal Loophole’

November 17th, 2010

The Telegraph

By Rebecca Smith

Rules that were intended to encourage drug companies to research and develop new medicines for rare diseases that are being misused, the 20 consultants said in the British Medical Journal.

Instead of developing new drugs they are obtaining licenses for existing ones and hiking up the price by up to 700 per cent, they said.

Some NHS hospitals are now refusing to fund drugs that were previously available cheaply while the NHS faces paying millions of pounds extra a year for the same, or very similar, medicines.

The open letter, which is also addressed to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and David Cameron, said: “Once a company has obtained a licence, the legislation then gives the company sole rights to supply the drug.

“This in turn allows the company to set an exorbitant price for this supply and effectively to bar previous suppliers of the unlicensed preparation from further production and distribution.

“We believe that this behaviour is not in the best interests of patients or the NHS but is undoubtedly significantly advantageous to drug companies.”

The doctors said they had already written to the Department of Health for England and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency about the issue.

“In reply we have simply been quoted the rules, and no one seems willing to investigate the issues we are raising or to consider whether the system should be changed.

“We urge you to instruct urgent review not only for the sake of our particular patients but also for the many other patients who are likely to be affected in the near future as other drug companies take advantage of this loophole.

“Legislation on orphan drugs, far from encouraging the development of new treatments for orphan diseases, is severely limiting the availability of existing treatments.”

The doctors provide several examples of price hikes, including a drug to treat rare muscle diseases which used to cost £800 to £1,000 per patient per year.

After obtaining a licence and slightly modifying the drug, the drug company now charges £40,000 to £70,000 per patient per year, the doctors said.

They added: “In the present economic situation it seems vital to ensure that systems are in place to prevent excessive commercial profits being made at the expense of patients and public spending.”

In a BMJ investigation, also published today, Dr Sam Richmond, a consultant neonatologist at Sunderland Royal Infirmary, and a signatory of the open letter, said: “If drug companies are undertaking research where nobody else was interested – and some are – then a monopoly may be justified.

“But if it’s a product already in use, they should clear off, or sell at a price comparable with the existing price.”

Professor Timothy Cox and colleagues at the University of Cambridge also argue the issue may warrant an investigation under competition rules.

Click here for the full report from the Telegraph

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 11-10-10

Today, Kevin delves deep into the illegal immigrant controversy and gives you the health advice that could save your life! Plus, author and former meteorologist, Brian Sussman, stops by to blow the whistle on one of the biggest frauds of our era; global warming. Click here to find out how the government is misleading you.

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Big Pharma Attempts To Jump On The Fish Oil Bandwagon
AstraZeneca Only Facing Fine For Illegal Marketing
Chicken Feces Found in Commercial Beef
Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, Zyrtec Recalled
Vitamin D Cuts Cancer Risk
Teen Girls Get Bribed To Get Gardasil Vaccine
Drugging of Infants & Toddlers in the US

Government:
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Putting Security Back Into Social Security
WHO Issues Warning About Big Pharma Corruption

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Millions to Get Secret Flu Vaccine

September 20, 2010

News of the World

The H1N1 vaccine will be mixed into the regular flu jab for OAPs, pregnant women and others at high risk.

While millions refused to take the jab during last winter’s pandemic, this time they will have no choice if they want to be protected against normal flu.

The Government was left with more than 30million swine flu vaccines after the pandemic fizzled out in 2010.

Some types of swine flu vaccinations are suspected of being linked to an increase in the rare condition narcolepsy, which causes sufferers to suddenly fall asleep at random times.

In Finland, one brand – Pandemrix, produced by GlaxoSmithKline – was banned, and officials in Sweden have started a Europe-wide investigation into it.

An NHS spokesman said that while the pandemic of the H1N1 swine flu virus was over, the disease was still a threat.

The Department of Health said the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority, which monitors vaccines, had given the H1N1 jab the all-clear after fears in Europe over the narcolepsy outbreak.

She added: “By March this year, that particular H1N1 vaccine had been given out 5.5million times and there have been no reported cases of narcolepsy in Britain.”

Click Here For Full Report

Researchers Find “Unintended” Statin Side Effects

May 21, 2010

BBC News

Some doses and types of statins are linked with a greater risk of adverse effects, including liver problems and kidney failure, the UK research showed.

Doctors will have access to a computer program based on the findings to help spot those most at risk.

Millions of UK adults take the drugs to reduce heart attack and stroke risk.

The researchers, from the University of Nottingham, stressed that for many people the benefits of statins outweighed any adverse effects, but the findings would help weigh up the pros and cons in each patient. There are plans to prescribe statins on the NHS in around one in four adults aged over 40.

The Department of Health had predicted prescriptions for the drugs would rise by 30% a year, as GPs find more and more people eligible.

At the moment, anyone judged to have a one in five or greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease over 10 years is advised to take a statin.

But there has been much debate over side effects and the latest research set out to confirm where the problems may lie in a “real life” population.

Click here for the full report.

Less Than Six Hours Of Sleep A Night May Cause Early Death

May 5, 2010

Telegraph.co.uk

by Rebecca Smith

They discovered that people who slept for less than six hours each night were 12 per cent more likely to die prematurely – before the age of 65 – than those who slept the recommended six to eight hours a night.

The team from the University of Warwick and Federico II University Medical School in Naples analysed 16 studies involving a total of 1.3 million people before reaching their conclusions.

They pointed out that previous studies had shown that sleep deprivation was associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol.

However, the researchers also found that sleeping too much was linked to an early death.

Those who slept for more than nine hours a night were 30 per cent more likely to die early, the research published in the journal Sleep found.

That directly contradicts research published in the same journal last week which suggested that people who slept for ten hours or longer a night were more likely to live to 100.

This was thought to be because people who lived into extreme old age were healthier and therefore slept better.

However, the authors of the latest research contradicted this and suggested that long sleep was a sign of underlying illnesses such as depression and low levels of physical activity. Some cancer is also associated with sleeping for longer.

Professor Francesco Cappuccio, leader of the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the University of Warwick and Consultant Physician at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: “Whilst short sleep may represent a cause of ill-health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill-health.

“Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common among full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work. On the other hand, the deterioration of our health status is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time.

“Consistently sleeping six to eight hours per night may be optimal for health. The duration of sleep should be regarded as an additional behavioural risk factor, or risk marker, influenced by the environment and possibly amenable to change through both education and counselling as well as through measures of public health aimed at favourable modifications of the physical and working environments.”

Click here to read the full article

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 5-4-10

Today, Kevin delves deep into the illegal immigrant controversy and gives you the health advice that could save your life! Plus, author and former meteorologist, Brian Sussman, stops by to blow the whistle on one of the biggest frauds of our era; global warming.  Click here to find out how the government is misleading you.

Self Help:
Turn Back Time
Inspiration From Teddy Roosevelt
Beef Up Your Diet
Treating Crohn’s Disease
Add Even More Nutrition To Your Salad
Kill Viruses For Good!
Join Today!

Health:
Big Pharma Attempts To Jump On The Fish Oil Bandwagon
AstraZeneca Only Facing Fine For Illegal Marketing
Chicken Feces Found in Commercial Beef
Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, Zyrtec Recalled
Vitamin D Cuts Cancer Risk
Teen Girls Get Bribed To Get Gardasil Vaccine
Drugging of Infants & Toddlers in the US

Government:
Just One State
Putting Security Back Into Social Security
WHO Issues Warning About Big Pharma Corruption

Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
Kevin is on YouTube!
Sign Up For Kevin’s FREE Podcast
Follow Kevin on Twitter
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Take Trudeau on the Go! Click here to download this show to your iPod, mp3 player, or PC through iTunes!

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NHS Bribing Teenage Girls to Get Gardasil Vaccines

April 30, 2010

Natural News

By Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) The British National Health Service (NHS) has begun bribing teenage girls between the ages of 16 and 18 to get Gardasil vaccines. Officials are giving shopping vouchers worth the equivalent of roughly $70 to girls who agree to get jabbed with the vaccine, which has been implicated in numerous cases of severe harm and death.

Officials from NHS Birmingham East and North have initiated the pilot program which is costing taxpayers the equivalent of about $35,000. No parental consent is required in order for young girls to participate in the program.

Many governments around the world have been pushing Gardasil through national campaigns designed to scare and entice women into getting the vaccine. The U.K. is no exception, as it continues to push for all girls between 12 and 18 years old to receive the shots, despite outcry from concerned citizens over the dangers of the vaccine.

The latest pilot program scam, however, essentially bribes young girls to get the vaccine with public funds. “[The project is] a serious misuse of taxpayers’ money,” said Norman Wells, Director of Family and Youth Concern, a national educational trust in the U.K. that researchers the causes and consequences of family breakdown.

Click here for the full report.

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