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Cameras set up in hospital trials

Submitted by AlexiaCS on Fri, 2012-05-11 17:24

 Two hospital trusts have agreed to install cameras into hospitals in a drive to improve standards.

The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust will be the first to have the cameras installed, which will go in the intensive care unit, kidney dialysis department and an operating theatre, while the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has also agreed to take part and have cameras set up in one ward.

New whiplash scheme set to be announced

Submitted by AlexiaCS on Wed, 2012-05-02 10:45

 The government is set to announce new measures to tackle the growing number of false whiplash claims.

The transport secretary Justine Greening met with justice secretary Ken Clarke, home secretary Theresa May and other cabinet colleagues to discuss the matter earlier in the year with the expectation that Prime Minister David Cameron would set up a wider review. Now it appears that Greening and Clarke will announce tougher new measures including a new accreditation system for doctors who assess whiplash claims.

 A South Yorkshire care home has been criticised by a coroner after arriving there in generally good health and, just five weeks later, being admitted to hospital weighing under five stone, having infections and covered in faeces. She died a short time later.

The Daily Mail reported recently that 1 in 4 British women resort to Google when they have a medical problem. Most of us can accept a degree of research online but it would seem that some female surfers are treating Google almost like a substitute GP as they strive to diagnose and treat their problems.

This has led to a series of misdiagnoses cases and there is now a Top 10 list of illnesses commonly mis-diagnosed as a direct result of people using the web rather than seeing their GP:

1 - Breast cancer
2 - Other forms of cancer
3 - Thrush
4 - High blood pressure
5 - Asthma
6 - Arthritis
7 - Depression
8 - Diabetes
9 - Sexual health problems
10 - Thyroid problems

“Sorry mate” near misses

Submitted by AlexiaCS on Fri, 2012-04-20 11:27

 New research from driver training organisation IAM shows that 58% of drivers have been cut up in the last year by fellow motorists who did not look before turning.

The encounters, which have been termed “Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You” incidents, are also among the most common causes of collisions and about a third of both minor and more serious accidents were seen as attributable to a lack of concentration by the guilty driver. The research also found that, when questioned about a failure to look, motorists acknowledged that there should generally be greater awareness of cyclists and motorcycles.

The government, together with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is to give advice to people who are victims of what could be termed the excesses of the “health and safety culture”.

A mythbusters challenge panel is to be set up, headed by Judith Hackett, chair of the HSE, which will give the advice to those who are on the wrong end of what they believe to be ridiculous decisions made in the name of health and safety. The HSE, possibly in an attempt to rid itself of its reputation as being at the heart of the health and safety culture, is to get the ball rolling by publishing the 10 worst myths about the misuse of health and safety legislation. These include children being stopped from playing conkers at school unless they are wearing goggles and hanging baskets being removed in case people bang their heads on them.

Racing circuit groundsman wins £2m damages after freak accident

Submitted by AlexiaCS on Wed, 2012-04-04 11:25

A groundsman at the Castle Combe racing circuit in Wiltshire has been awarded damages totalling more than £2m after a freak accident left him with brain damage.

The accident happened in November 2008 when Mr Johnson, who had worked at the circuit for over 20 years, was in a lorry collecting metal advertising hoardings. A gust of wind blew him off the lorry and he fell to the ground, causing him to sustain severe head injuries. He spent more than a month in intensive care and has still not been able to return home to his wife. However the payout will enable him to move into a specially adapted bungalow with his family.

Mr Justice Mackay, at the High Court in London, approved the settlement against Castle Combe Circuit Ltd which will see Mr Johnson receive a £2m lump sum plus £250,000 for a year followed by index-linked annual payments of £205,000.

Families of those whose lives have been ruined by exposure to asbestos have welcomed a new ruling in the Supreme Court which, they hope, will end the confusion which has affected mesothelioma claims in recent years.

Campaigners have been pushing for reform in this area for many years. The latest ruling follows on from a High Court decision in 2008 which said that a firm’s insurers at the time the worker inhaled the asbestos fibres, would be liable. However this was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2010 which said that liability only became relevant when the symptoms developed. As the symptoms of the cancer mesothelioma are only noticed years later, decades in many cases, this adversely affected the chances families had of making a successful claim for compensation.

Cameron meets with insurers for whiplash summit

Submitted by Jason on Thu, 2012-02-16 13:16

Prime Minister David Cameron is to host a whiplash summit in Downing Street to try and tackle what is referred to as the “whiplash epidemic”, seen as largely responsible for the rising cost of car insurance.

Leading figures from all the UK’s major insurance companies will join Otto Thoresen, director general of the Association of British Insurance (ABI), at the summit which will discuss how whiplash claims are adding an estimated £90 to the average motor insurance premium. It is also in response to a 32% rise in the number of claims over the last three years even though the number of reported accidents in that time has fallen by 16%.

Transport secretary attacks texting lawyers

Submitted by Jason on Thu, 2012-02-09 11:27

The transport secretary Justine Greening has spoken out in advance of government action to reduce the number of whiplash claims by attacking no win, no fee lawyers.

Following the Transport Select Committee confirming last month that Britain had a far higher number of whiplash claims than other European countries, cabinet ministers will now hold a summit on how to deal with the issue with the Prime Minister set to hold another review after this.

However, as an opening salvo, Ms Greening makes it clear where she sees part of the problem, targeting lawyers who text and cold-call drivers as well as running high profile media campaigns. She says that such behaviour encourages drivers to make claims even for the most minor of accidents.

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