NHS patients waiting months for vital bowel cancer tests, figures show

Patients with one of the most lethal forms of cancer are having to wait months to have vital diagnostic tests, in a new sign of the relentless pressure on NHS services.

People suspected of having bowel cancer are facing waits of three months for tests when they should have them within a maximum of six weeks, the latest NHS waiting time figures show.

In March almost half the patients referred for the disease to Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust had to wait more than the six weeks set out in the NHS constitution. In all 144 (49.3%) of the 292 patients that month had to ensure waits of several months, and 39 of them were kept waiting for more than 13 weeks.

Campigners warned that patients could die as a result of the delays in patients undergoing either a colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy, the two tests used to detect bowel cancer.

Prof Colin Rees, vice-president of the British Society of Gastroenterology, said: “By testing the right people at the right time we can save lives and stop people dying needlessly.”

In March 24% of hospital trusts in England missed the six-week target for colonoscopy, which meant that 1,121 patients were kept waiting. In the same month, 18% of hospitals breached the six-week target for flexi-sigmoidoscopy.

Deborah Alsina, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK, said the waiting times “present a worrying picture for patients”. She identified a lack of diagnotic staff as a key problem and lamented the latest of several delays in Health Education England publishing a plan, first promised in 2015, to boost the NHS cancer workforce.

About 41,000 people a year in the UK develop bowel cancer and around 16,000 die from it. It is Britain’s fourth most deadly cancer after lung, breast and prostate.

Meanwhile, NHS performance against its key waiting times targets is now the highest it has been for five years, NHS Englnd’s latest statistics show.

During 2015-16, 2.5 million people were not treated within four hours of arriving in A&E, and a total of 362,687 patients did not receive planned care in hospital – usually an operation – within 18 weeks.

Another 26,113 waited longer than 62 days for supposedly urgent cancer treatment after being referred by their GP, while 985,583 people with a life-threatening condition waited more than the maximum eight minutes for an ambulance to respond to an 999 call.

“These figures reveal the dismal human cost of the NHS crisis,” said Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman. “Millions of patients are waiting in distress and anxiety, but Theresa may doesn’t care.”

Responding to the latest monthly statistics, a Conservative spokesman said: “These figures show A&E performance has improved a great deal since the equivalent time last year. Waiting times for an operation again got shorter in March, and crucially patient outcomes continue to improve. Breast cancer survival is at its highest ever level.”

The figures came as the Health Foundation warned that the care patients receive is under threat because of the NHS’s unprecedented financial squeeze.

In a report, the thinktank says: “It is difficult to see how the intense financial pressures on all NHS and social care services will not threaten the quality of care in the near future if nothing changes.

“As OECD analyses have shown, the UK’s performance on quality is middling when compared with other OECD countries, but then so are our funding levels.”

NHS patients waiting months for vital bowel cancer tests, figures show

Undocumented immigrants avoid vital nutrition services for fear of deportation

The phone calls began in February: “I’m not coming back.” “It’s not worth the risk.” “Erase my name from your records.” One person brought in a sheaf of vouchers and insisted on returning them.

All over the US, undocumented immigrants were calling the offices of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (Wic) and begging to drop out.

Since Donald Trump assumed office with promises of a fierce crackdown on unauthorized immigrants, the fearful response has spawned a hundred stories like these, of people withdrawing into the shadows to avoid unwanted detection.

But the defections away from Wic, a federal program that helps more than 8 million low-income children and mothers purchase formula and nutritious foods, offer some of the first concrete evidence of the far-reaching and potentially devastating consequences for the welfare of people at risk from Trump’s deportation promises.

Of the 90 local agencies that manage Wic, about a quarter have told the national association that undocumented clients are skipping appointments and foregoing benefits.

Many offices have recorded a sharp drop in caseloads. And in areas with a high proportion of immigrants, some clinics stand nearly empty.

“This is happening across the United States,” said Elisabet Eppes, a senior public policy associate at the National WIC Association. “We are extremely concerned.”

The benefits at stake are very modest; most participants receive roughly $ 45 in vouchers a month. But decades of research have linked the program to declines in early childhood obesity, low birth weights, premature births and infant deaths, and an increase in childhood immunizations.

The children and mothers who qualify for Wic are at risk of not only poverty but also malnutrition, because of a poor diet or a health condition.

Lanie Smith, a Wic dietitian in Kansas, recently treated a young boy with epilepsy, a condition that is made worse by a poor diet. As Smith sat with the boy, his mother, who has undocumented family members, debated with Smith whether to withdraw her son from the program.

“We’ve heard a lot of stories about people who either wouldn’t show up for appointments, or who wanted to withdraw from the program, cancel their benefits and be scrubbed from the record,” said Douglas Greenaway, the president and CEO of the National Wic Association. “We’ve had people offer to pay back any benefits they might have utilized: ‘Hang in there, I’ll find money to pay you back.’”

Wic agencies and employees first started having conversations like these in February, after rumors spread that the Trump administration would focus on deporting immigrants who accept public assistance.

The rumors were untrue. But the White House is considering executive action to make them a reality. In February, a draft leaked of an executive order that would encourage the removal of immigrants, including those with legal residency, who received public welfare.

That was enough for thousands of undocumented immigrants to question if Wic was worth the risk.

As fears have mounted, Wic agencies have desperately tried to convince undocumented participants to keep using the program. It is not against the law for undocumented immigrants to participate in Wic, they remind clients, and Wic doesn’t ask about or track its participants’ immigration status.

But panic can outpace policy. When fear of deportation runs high, research has found, unauthorized immigrants become less likely to use the public health benefits for which they’re eligible. Even immigrants with legal status will avoid entitlements if members of their family are undocumented.

Public health advocates worry that Wic may not be an outlier, but a bellwether for the potential consequences of driving undocumented immigrants into the shadows.

Other health and safety advocates are starting to measure similar trends. On Monday, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the country’s most prominent resource for victims of intimate partner abuse, reported that it fielded more than 7,000 calls related to immigration status in 2016 – a 30% increase from 2015.

The hotline, which was established by Congress in the 1990s with federal funding, responded to 323,660 calls last year.

Supporters of Trump’s crackdown argue that undocumented immigrants shouldn’t be entitled to use public benefits provided on taxpayers’ dollars.

US law already bars immigrants from using many welfare programs designed to benefit the poor. The leaked executive order argues it is necessary to expand and enforce these exclusions because immigrants are more likely to rely on public assistance than legal residents.

But that claim is not backed up by the evidence, which suggests that immigrants are less likely than people born in the US to use welfare programs. The order also ignores the fact that many immigrants – undocumented or otherwise – have children who are US citizens but cannot access public benefits on their own.

If undocumented families continue to flee Wic, most of the consequences will probably fall on very young children, including an untold number who were born to undocumented parents but have US citizenship.

“As pediatricians, we should be trying to encourage families to access all the programs that they’re eligible for, regardless of their immigration status,” said Dr Lanre Falusi, the president of the Washington DC chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “It’s heartbreaking to hear a patient say that even if their child is entitled to use this vital program, even if their child was born here, is an American citizen … they are too scared.”

What would a city look like without undocumented immigrants?

Smith, from the Wic agency in Kansas, said more than 100 people have stopped coming to her clinic in Kansas City – or, as many people as her clinic sees in a single day. Many of those clients called the clinic to say they were simply too scared.

The fears were even more pronounced in California, where numerous local agencies have received pleas from clients who want to be purged from Wic’s record-keeping system. At least one parent called an agency to ask if children on Wic would have to pay the government back someday.

“There are citizen children who aren’t going to receive benefits that they are entitled to because their mothers are too afraid to come in,” said Karen Farley, executive director of the California Wic Association. “Never mind that their parents contribute to the local economy – these are children and babies we’re talking about.”

Undocumented immigrants avoid vital nutrition services for fear of deportation

Bursaries are vital for the future of nursing | Anonymous

As a nurse in accident and emergency I’m the first person you’ll see. I’ll triage you, order your bloods and x-rays, interpret results, get you painkillers, take your blood pressure and pulse and escalate any issues to senior staff. If I suspect or you disclose abuse, I report this. If you are not looking after your health I’ll help you realise this. I put on your plaster cast, change your dressings, suture your cuts and take you to the toilet.

Before I trained to be a nurse I worked for four years as a parliamentary researcher after graduating with a degree in international relations. My calling, as such, hit me after the result of the 2010 election. I felt it was time to do something practical with my life and not sit in an office telling other people what they should be doing.

I couldn’t have trained as a nurse if it wasn’t for the bursary – it’s vital to those who cannot fund themselves

My course attracted a fabulously diverse group of people: artists, teachers, a child psychologist, full-time mothers, and several biomedical scientists. We had all given up other jobs to be there and were able to because the course had a £6,000 a year NHS bursary attached to it. Since qualifying in 2013 I suspect we have all repaid our debt to society a thousand times over.

I love the privilege of nursing and working in the emergency department of a major trauma hospital in London suits me; it’s fast paced, chaotic, entertaining and no minute is ever the same. My colleagues are dedicated, vibrant, intelligent and driven but a day at work is often exhausting.

We start already stretched to capacity. Several hours are spent moving patients through to beds elsewhere in the hospital or to other hospitals if we have no chance of creating more space where we are. This is a priority before the mid-morning build-up starts. From lunchtime things really begin to kick off – we can have 15 ambulances arrive in a matter of minutes. As the ambulance triage nurse it can be breathtakingly stressful trying to filter the emergencies out. Sometimes you can have five or six patients all deserving of a bed in the resuscitation area and no space to put them. The rest of my time is spent apologising to everyone else. I hear myself saying again and again: “It may be several hours before the doctor sees you, but we’ll make sure you have all the tests done in the meantime.”

We leave patients in corridors or on chairs who should really be in beds and in rooms. I’ve had women miscarrying in the waiting room and store rooms because there’s no trolley for them anywhere else. It’s hard to remember the joy in nursing when this happens so regularly. I hate that I leave people waiting in pain. It goes against my every instinct as a nurse but sadly sometimes we have to because there’s so many competing demands.

As a major trauma centre staff are regularly confronted with horrific injuries and accidents and rarely have time to digest these personally. Frustratingly these patients can often be drunk and abusive or have acute mental health problems that are hard to manage on top of their injuries. I’ve got scars on my arms where a patient has taken a chunk out of my skin. Another time, a patient swung a punch at me and when I ducked he smashed the window behind my head. There’s not much I have on my side but a clear head and agility.

I couldn’t have trained as a nurse if it wasn’t for the bursary – it’s vital to those who cannot fund themselves. I still had to borrow money off my parents and work part-time as it didn’t even cover my rent. The soul-grindingly hard work you experience as a student nurse sets you up well for your career. Yes, nursing is a vocation and a job you would be foolish to undertake for financial reward, but we do what we can to keep the NHS afloat.

Bursaries are vital for the future of nursing | Anonymous

Diet has a vital role to play in dealing with the menopause | Letters

While I applaud publicising and myth-busting the menopause (“I just coped, as others do: breaking the silence about the menopause”, In Focus), I am sorry that nowhere in the article did you mention diet as a means of dealing with menopausal side-effects.

The beginning of my menopause was a nightly sheet-wringing affair and daily having to pull over in the car to urgently strip off before I melted. About that time, I exchanged meat and dairy products for tofu and soya milk alternatives. Soon afterwards, the sweats subsided, then stopped. I thought I was one of the lucky ones, but I then learned that an oriental diet, low in meat and dairy and high in soya, which contains phytoestrogens, was the more likely reason. Menopause is not an illness, it’s a fact of life, and the reaction to administer drugs to treat the symptoms is sad.

In the early days of my transition, I found that suddenly stripping off in public places for an impending hot flush was best dealt with an: “Excuse me, I’m having a menopausal!” and laughing. Since laughing is infectious, everyone laughed with me (albeit sometimes nervously).
Stephanie Fuger
Matlock, Derbyshire

Nazis knew the BBC’s power

There has never been much doubt about the integrity and quality of the BBC’s wartime broadcasts to Nazi Germany. Their significance for that nebulous entity, “the German people”, is less certain (“How the BBC’s truth offensive beat Hitler’s propaganda machine”, News).

Nazi propaganda succeeded in seducing huge sections of the German population, especially among the young, while a draconian law passed at the outbreak of the war imposed such heavy penalties on listeners to foreign broadcasts, including capital punishment for passing on such information, that it was likely to discourage all but the most intrepid anti-Nazi.

Its most consistent and attentive listener was Hitler’s minister of information, Joseph Goebbels, who, sensing the potential danger, refused even high-ranking Nazi colleagues permission to listen to the BBC. Nazi terror ensured that even in the last stages of a clearly lost war “the German people” would stage no uprisings against their moribund overlords.

The BBC’s German Service failed in its mission to enlighten the misguided “German people”. The listeners to this splendid service were people like my Nazi-hating mother, who took huge comfort from the knowledge that beyond the confines of their now so deadly country was another world that cared and would fight to overcome the evil that gripped Germany.
Carla Wartenberg
London NW3

Heavy weather, Nick

It seems that whatever Nick Cohen writes about, he has set himself the task of inserting at least one gratuitous swipe at the left wing of the Labour party. If he was asked to write the Observer’s weather forecast, he’d probably find a way of blaming them for every approaching thunderstorm.

Last week, for instance, writing about George Soros and the Hungarian government, he managed to contrive a reference to what he described as “the Labour left’s claim that Hitler was a Zionist”. That’s quite a sweeping, damaging accusation, apparently aimed at the whole of the Labour left. Yet the recent crude, insensitive and provocative suggestion by Ken Livingstone that Hitler “was supporting Zionism” was widely condemned by Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and most of that very same “Labour left”.
John Marais
Cambridge

MacKenzie is his own nemesis

I agree with Barbara Ellen’s piece “Read all about it. MacKenzie is no man of the people” (Comment). However, I would go further as Kelvin MacKenzie displays the classic symptoms of addictive behaviour, whereby someone has compulsive patterns of behaviour and cannot help themselves.

MacKenzie has made a few of these ill-advised stands, making ridiculous pronouncements since his terrible stance on Hillsborough and one has to have some compassion for the man who is on a self-destruct mission. These desperate attempts to keep himself in the frame are another form of attention-seeking. Of course, the management of the Sun should have put themselves, any sub-editors, the editor and any journalists party to the piece before publication on gardening leave immediately, without waiting to see the reaction.
Martin Sandaver
Hay-on-Wye

Enough of this codswallop

Your business leader column on corporate speak reminded me that it is not only the corporate world that suffers from meaningless jargon intended to fool the listener/reader into believing that something meaningful has been uttered.

Corporate speak is spoken by those who wish to exclude from their conversations those who are not deemed suitable to be admitted to their heady heights. Nowhere is this more manifest than in the corridors of government and civil administration. They are all talking codswallop to each other, but no one has the cojones to be the first to admit that they do not understand what has been said.
Paul F Faupel
Somersham, Cambridgeshire

Diet has a vital role to play in dealing with the menopause | Letters

Micronutrients Have a Vital Impact on Your Immune System

Micronutrients and macronutrients help to supply our bodies with a supply of raw materials to maintain our immune system, blood circulation, bones, muscles, nerves, skin, and brain.

We need an ample supply of macronutrients, which are made up of carbohydrates, fats, and protein.

On the other hand, we only require having a small number of micronutrients — minerals and vitamins.  However, not getting even those small quantities of minerals and vitamins can practically guarantee disease.

The Value of Micronutrients

Our bodies cannot manufacture about 30 vitamins and minerals in sufficient amounts.  These vitamins and minerals are called essential micronutrients.

Centuries ago, British sailors learned that living for months without vegetables or fresh fruits — a main source of vitamin C — caused the scurvy and bleeding gums. Even today, people living in low-income countries often suffer from a variety of nutrient-deficiency diseases.

The lack of a single nutrient leading directly to a specific ailment and actual vitamin and mineral deficiencies is rare in the United States.  Our extensive supply of economical food — plus the enrichment of many common foods with some key nutrients — helps in supplying us most vitamins and minerals.

However, eating less than optimal amounts of important minerals, vitamins, and other necessary compounds can still contribute to a number of major illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and cancer.

Therefore, concern about insufficiency is a key driver of both the mass marketing of over-the-counter supplements and U.S. dietary guidelines.

Getting Enough Micronutrients

How can we be certain we are fulfilling our nutrient needs?  A flurry of conflicting studies has led many people in a state of confusion.  So many studies direct us to new marketing claims.  And some of these claims may or may not stand up to later research.

Nevertheless, according to Harvard University Medical School “the best way to get vitamins and minerals is from a well-rounded diet, with plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and lean sources of protein, along with healthy fats, such as nuts and olive oil.”

Dr. Howard D. Sesso, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School advises as follows.

“You should ideally try to meet your vitamin and mineral needs through your diet rather than supplements.”

Foods to Heighten Your Immune System

Five micronutrients help in maintaining your immune function.  The five micronutrients are vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, and zinc.

Supplements containing these micronutrients are often sold as immune boosters in doses that significantly exceed the recommended daily allowance.  However, there’s no evidence that these supplements have more benefits than simply following a healthy diet.

Instead of popping pills to get these micronutrients, you’re much better off to consume various foods to boost your immune system.

Here are a few suggestions of micronutrients and food sources to help improve your immune system.

• Vitamin B6 — Bananas, potatoes with skin, cereals, chicken, pork loin


• Magnesium — Nuts, whole wheat, seeds, legumes


• Vitamin C — Broccoli, sweet peppers, citrus fruit, tomatoes, and kiwi fruit


• Vitamin E — Almonds, peanut butter, sunflower seeds and oil, and safflower oil


• Zinc — Turkey (dark meat), Alaskan king crab, beef shank, and oysters

Well-Rounded Diet versus Supplements

Nearly half of all Americans regularly take dietary supplements.  The most common supplements are multivitamin and multimineral supplements.

However, there is no convincing proof to support this common practice. For the most part, studies of people who eat diets rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and fish show that they actually consume higher levels of vitamins and minerals from these foods.  They also have a reduced risk of many diseases, including diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and cancers.

In contrast, clinical trials that test the effect of selected vitamins or minerals as pill supplements have typically shown very little influence on health. The main exception may be fish oil supplements.  Some trials have shown a lower risk of heart disease and possibly vitamin D.

Nevertheless, consuming a well-rounded, balanced diet that includes essential micronutrients and macronutrients our bodies need is most beneficial — a wiser and healthier choice.

George Zapo, CPH is certified in Public Health Promotion & Education. George focuses on writing informative articles promoting healthy behavior and lifestyles. Read more of George’s articles at his website: http://georgezapo.com.

Micronutrients Have a Vital Impact on Your Immune System

Charities" vital role in supporting children"s mental health | Catherine Roche

Public and political understanding of young people’s mental health is growing; the prime minister herself emphasised recently that mental illness too often starts in childhood and that, “when left untreated, can blight lives”.

Theresa May’s plans to offer every secondary school in the country mental health training, as well as strengthening links between schools and NHS specialist staff, are important steps in the right direction.

But it is equally important to prioritise support in primary schools. Half of all mental health problems start before the age of 14. Intervening at the earliest opportunity is vital.

This is something we at Place2Be understand all too well. For more than 22 years we have championed the role of primary schools in addressing young people’s mental health.

We work with children like seven-year-old Malik, who came to Place2Be when his mother was suffering from depression following the death of her own mother. Malik was so quiet he was almost invisible, but through one-to-one weekly counselling, using the medium of art and play, he grew into a young boy with the confidence to speak in front of his class.

The same is true of seven-year-old Abbie, who became increasingly anxious as she wasn’t getting to school because her mother had trouble getting up in the morning. We provided counselling support for both Abbie and her mum, who had been abused as a child and resorted to self-harming as a way to cope. We supported Abbie’s mum through a referral for a mental health assessment, giving her the tools to understand and cope with her problems, which in turn enabled her to become a reliable parent and get her daughter to school. With support Abbie was also able to manage her anxieties, develop self-confidence, settle and do well in class.

What would have happened if we hadn’t been there to support these young children and their families?

Many schools already provide mental health support on site, but the challenges they face in referring young people to overstretched child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) are well documented. There is simply not enough provision and families face long waiting times.

Two-thirds of 10- and 11-year-olds worry all the time about things to do with their school life, home life or themselves

Our survey of headteachers found that over half of school leaders say it is difficult to find mental health services for pupils, and more than one in five who attempt to find support are unsuccessful. At the same time, nearly two-thirds of 10- and 11-year-olds are telling us they worry all the time about at least one thing to do with their school life, home life or themselves.

By intervening early in schools we can help to alleviate the pressure on Camhs – and prevent many young people reaching an unacceptable and dangerous crisis point.

Early intervention makes financial sense too. A Centre for Mental Health report highlighted that children with early conduct disorder are an estimated 10 times more costly to the public sector by the age of 28 than other children, and impose lifetime costs on society as a whole of around £260,000.

What role is there for the charitable sector within all this? There are many local and national voluntary organisations providing excellent in-school support across the country. At Place2Be, for example, we provide tried and tested services that are funded by our partner schools and voluntary contributions. We also offer training for child counsellors and professionals working with children. Campaigns such as Time to Change and Heads Together mean we are seeing a welcome increase in voluntary commitments from the public, companies and other donors to fund early intervention.

Addressing children’s mental health is everyone’s business and will require investment, expertise, commitment and joined-up working from the public, private and third sectors to ensure we deliver the high quality mental health support that our young people deserve to thrive in the future.

Names have been changed.

Catherine Roche is chief executive of Place2Be

Talk to us on Twitter via @Gdnvoluntary and join our community for your free fortnightly Guardian Voluntary Sector newsletter, with analysis and opinion sent direct to you on the first and third Thursday of the month.

Charities" vital role in supporting children"s mental health | Catherine Roche

Over 130,000 patients a year are not receiving vital NHS cancer care on time

More than 130,000 patients a year are not receiving vital NHS cancer care on time because hospitals are struggling to look after the growing number of people suspected of having the disease.

Doctors are warning that a widespread and growing failure to meet waiting time targets was causing huge anxiety for patients affected and may even harm their chances of survival.

A total of 132,138 patients in England last year did not see a cancer specialist within the required 14 days or start treatment such as surgery or radiotherapy within the supposed maximum 31 after diagnosis, or 62 days after initial consultation and tests, according to an analysis of NHS-wide performance data conducted by Cancer Research UK.

Delays in some hospitals were so severe that more than 6,000 patients who should have had their first treatment within 62 days of being urgently referred by their GP last year were forced to wait for 104 days or more, the figures collected by hospitals show.

101,140 patients with suspected cancer were not seen by a specialist within 14 days last year

“These figures are alarming. The number of people for whom these targets are being missed is a real source of concern,” said Prof Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician. “Delay creates additional anxiety for people. That matters for individual patients affected in a precise way because they have a prolonged period of uncertainty. Do I have cancer or do I not? And if I do have cancer, will it be curable?

“In some cases delays may even mean the chance to give curative treatment may be lost. Delays mean that there will be some people whose cancer gets worse while they wait for the result [of a test]. I’m pretty angry about that. This all reflects a system that’s failing to meet the needs of people with cancer or suspected cancer,” added Johnson, who is a leading NHS cancer specialist in Southampton and professor of medical oncology at Southampton University.

The figures show that 101,140 people with suspected cancer did not get to see a specialist within 14 days of being referred as urgent cases by their GP during 2015-16. Another 6,713 patients found to have the disease did not receive their first treatment within 31 days. And a further 24,285 were not treated within 62 days, despite being referred urgently by their family doctor.

Leading cancer doctors claim that a failure to invest in NHS diagnostic and treatment services in recent years has left hospitals struggling to cope with the 1.5 million people a year whom GPs now refer for tests because they suspect they may have the disease. They pinpointed a lack of scanners and key personnel such as radiologists and endoscopists to meet demand as key problems.

6,713 patients did not receive their first definitive treatment within 31 days of a cancer diagnosis last year

And they warned that the NHS is increasingly ill-equipped to give timely care to the even greater number of people who will be diagnosed with cancer over coming years as a result of the ageing population and impact of lifestyle factors such as obesity, smoking and drinking.

The NHS is testing, diagnosing and treating record numbers of people with cancer. But the number of patients not cared for within 14, 31 or 62 days is rising relentlessly. Last year’s total of 132,138 people affected was more than double the 63,701 such cases in 2011-12.

Doctors say that cancer waiting time standards, originally introduced by then prime minister Gordon Brown in January 2009, are vital to ensure early diagnosis of cancer and central to the NHS’s determined efforts to help tackle Britain’s poor record of late diagnosis of the disease.

The targets specify that hospitals in England should ensure that 93% of those referred by a GP should see a specialist within two weeks, that 96% of patients diagnosed with cancer should receive their first treatment within 31 days and that 85% should start urgent treatment within 62 days of GP referral.

24,285 people diagnosed with cancer were not treated within 62 days after being referred by their GP last year

The NHS as a whole has breached the 62-day target in every quarter for the last two and a half years. In that time, 57,112 people have had to wait longer than that for supposedly urgent care, NHS England’s figures show. “We now have a situation where most hospitals don’t meet their targets to start treating people within 62 days of referral with radiotherapy, chemotherapy or surgery. That’s regrettable for patients because for an affected patient any extension of those 62 days is both psychologically challenging and damaging both for them and their loved ones,” said Dr Richard Roope, the Royal College of GPs’ spokesman on cancer.

“There’s always the worry that that delay might affect your outcome and that delay is well-placed because in some cases it will mean that the cancer is more advanced at the time of treatment, which will then be detrimental to the outcome – it could reduce their chances of survival,” Roope added.

Although hospitals overall have hit the 14-day and 31-day targets, performance has been slipping. More hospitals have been missing one or both targets since early 2014. The number of patients who have not seen a specialist within two weeks has shot up from 45,414 in 2011-12 to 101,140 last year, while the number denied treatment within 31 days rose from 4,132 to 6,713 during that period.

“If you look after people with cancer it’s a desperate situation to be asking them to wait for their tests and to be planning to see them after a month because they won’t have their results until then, and we know that’s going to be a month of terrible worry for them,” said Johnson.

Dr Giles Maskell, until recently president of the Royal College of Radiologists, said: “There are gaps right across the NHS cancer workforce, including oncologists, therapists, nutritionists, nurse specialists and other groups. The shortage of radiologists – who interpret x-rays and scans – is so serious that one university hospital in the south-east recently had 11 of its 33 consultant radiologist posts unfilled because there were too few applicants, while another teaching hospital in the north-west has eight of its 36 posts unfilled, and seven have been vacant for over a year.”

The Department of Health declined to comment directly on the large numbers of patients not getting timely care. Instead, a spokesman said in a statement that: “Cancer survival rates have never been higher and just this week the NHS announced a new £130m investment to kickstart the upgrade of radiotherapy equipment and transform cancer treatment across England.

“The reality is the NHS is seeing over 90% more patients with suspected cancer within two weeks – that’s over 800,000 more people – and treating nearly 50,000 more patients following a GP referral compared to 2010.”

Over 130,000 patients a year are not receiving vital NHS cancer care on time

From a German doctor to a Dutch nurse: Europeans playing a vital role in the NHS

Some 57,000 Europeans are employed by the NHS, and their position has looked increasingly uncertain since Britain voted to leave the EU. It’s an issue highlighted by the Institute of Public Policy Research, with the thinktank warning that the health service could collapse if those European workers left the UK. Chris Murray, who compiled the report, said: “It is critical to public health that these workers do not seek jobs elsewhere. All EU nationals who work for the NHS, or as locums in the NHS system, should be eligible to apply for British citizenship.”

So, how do European nationals working for our health service feel post-Brexit? Six of them explain.

Spanish pharmacist

^{Ricardo, 38, Bournemouth: ‘I am not sure how the NHS will cope without Europeans’}
After Brexit, me and my wife started thinking of places to go: Spain, Scotland, Canada. My wife is Scottish and works in academia, so we need to find somewhere we could both work. I feel betrayed by the referendum vote, and in some ways it looks like we are going to be allowed to stay for as long as we are useful. This country has decided to shut its doors to globalisation – despite the fact that it’s here to stay.

In my department, more than 50% of the pharmacists come from the EU

Ricardo

I know not everyone voted for Britain to leave the EU because of immigration, but it played a huge part for a lot of people. It makes me feel unwelcome, but I like my life here: I have a great job and met my wife in Britain. My future here now seems very uncertain, which is a shame because Europeans are very important to the NHS. Just to give you an example: in my department more than 50% of the pharmacists come from the EU. Likewise, most hospitals have hired (or are hiring) nurses from Europe. I am not sure how the NHS will cope without us.

Nurse from the Netherlands

^{Helena, 52, Wales: ‘The way I feel now I am not sure I would even accept British citizenship’}
It has now been around two months since Brexit. At the moment I still feel like I am going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Why should I have to apply for dual nationality and pay thousands to do so? I feel as though the goal posts have been shifted and I can no longer remain here on the same terms on which I arrived from the Netherlands in 1995. To be honest, the way I feel now I am not sure I would even accept British citizenship if offered it. I do not really feel welcome in the UK any more, and I am not sure if I will stay or go.

Shortly after the referendum result was announced my husband got a letter from the university where he works to say they would support EU-citizen-staff and family members who wanted to get permanent citizenship. I have not yet heard anything from my employer, despite being an NHS nurse for more than 14 years. Maybe EU nationals are not important, but this is surprising given the high number who work here. I know that without us the NHS would be unsustainable. There is no budget, investments and slack in the NHS to grow, develop and modernise. A few weeks ago, when I was back in the Netherlands, I had to accompany a family member to hospital and the healthcare service was so much better. It feels tempting to go back home.

Quality improvement officer from Germany
_{Chuck, 52, London: ‘With 20 years of experience in the NHS, I have a lot to offer this country’}

With 30 years of healthcare experience (20 of it in the NHS) I have a lot to offer this country. But I am one of many. We have nurses, doctors and therapists from all countries. Clinical innovation, for example, seems to be supported by high numbers of academic clinicians from Greece, Spain and Italy.

Even if we are being made to feel welcome at work, I no longer feel that welcome on on the streets

David

I am a German expat and have been living in Britain for the past two decades because I like the country, the people, the culture and the NHS. NHS executives have been very supportive and sent messages saying that European colleagues are valued, needed and welcome here. However, the government’s position is not clear, and my wife and I worry about changes in the public mood. Even if we are being made to feel welcome at work, we no longer feel that welcome on the streets. Because of this, we are thinking about leaving Britain. The referendum was the most painful reminder that I don’t have a vote in the country I live in and contribute to.

Doctor from Germany

^{Stephanie, 42, Portsmouth: ‘The UK can’t afford to loose more committed staff members’}

I am in the process of applying for a permanent residency card, which I require if I want to apply for naturalisation (the legal act by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship). However, currently the German government only allows dual citizenship if the other country is an EU country, and I don’t want to give up my German passport – hopefully I can sort it out before Article 50 is triggered. The whole process is so complex and expensive, however, almost as though it’s designed to put people off. I am a German GP and married to a British citizen. My son already has dual nationality and I feel this is my only option.

Although my primary degree is from a German university, I did my postgraduate and general practice training in the UK. There is a shortage of GPs at the moment, and Jeremy Hunt’s plan was to recruit 5,000 from abroad to solve the crisis. It is therefore vital that EU nationals working here as doctors are encouraged to stay. The UK can’t afford to lose more committed staff members.

Cardiologist from Austria

^{Daniel, 43, Surrey: ‘I feel upset that some of the people I treat want me out of the country’}

I am already looking for positions in other European countries. Despite the fact that I love my job, my colleagues and my patients, I do not feel that this is the place for my children to grow up. Their opportunities have been taken from them, and it only looks like things will get worse.

EU nationals are critical for the NHS. I come from Austria, and many of my fellow doctors come from all over Europe. We rely on nurses from across the EU, who are all highly qualified and motivated to do their work. The UK alone simply does not have enough trained staff to keep up with the needs of its citizens, and there are too few in training programmes. The staffing problems will just get worse.

I feel upset to know that some of the people I treat want me out of “their” country. I feel that they probably call me all sorts of names behind my back. We Europeans should all work together towards a brighter future for the whole world.

Surgeon from Austria
_{Peter, 35, Liverpool: ‘I will serve the NHS as long as I can’}

My plans, post-Brexit, are to continue serving the people of the UK via the NHS as long as the government allows me to. I would not take British citizenship now, however, if offered it. I was eligible for British citizenship 10 years ago, but I have no interest in giving up my own EU citizenship, especially after the referendum. I would not want to limit my access and rights of free movement in the EU. Working conditions in the NHS are in a steady decline, and many EU countries are opening their arms to fully trained doctors and nurses.

• Some names have been changed
  

From a German doctor to a Dutch nurse: Europeans playing a vital role in the NHS

Has government learned the vital lessons of public service failures?

From the failure at Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust that led to the mistreatment of hundreds of patients, to the Rotherham children’s services scandal, we have seen been high-profile crises in public services that have had direct and disastrous effects on people’s lives.

Managing failure is a vital skill, and new research from the Institute for Government aims to understand how government can best respond to – and learn from – such events more effectively. It focuses on failures in four key public services, hospitals, local authorities, children’s services and schools, and ways to restore services quickly. A few common themes emerge:

The first lesson is to avoid some of the most common responses to failure, including blame and restructuring. It’s human instinct to find an individual to blame: 70%-80% of inquiries across a range of industries and professions attribute tragedies to the error of particular individuals. But this instinctive response usually fails to understand or to address why it was that an individual thought it best to act in a given way. The impulse to restructure in the wake of a crisis has a similar appeal – it feels like you are at least doing something – but will be effective only if linked to the actual causes of failure, which are frequently rooted in behaviour or culture.

One example is Doncaster metropolitan borough council, which was found to be failing by an Audit Commission inspection in 2010. by the Audit Commission. The communities secretary, John Denham subsequently appointed commissioners and service quality improved. They were withdrawn a year earlier than planned, in 2014.

Related: May’s Whitehall reshuffle shows disregard for evidence and expertise

In Doncaster, the turnaround was based in part on reconnecting the council with neighbouring authorities. It had become insular, and as it detached from its peers, it lost its sense of what good looked like.

This was a common phenomenon across our case studies; one teacher, appointed to a school just weeks before it was tipped into special measures, recalled that it was absolutely crystal clear the second they walked in that building that the school was failing. “What was terrifying was that it wasn’t clear to the people inside it.” To overcome this insularity, organisations began rebuilding links with their peers, including them on improvement boards or by making use of sector-specific services such as the Local Government Association’s peer challenge tool.

Doncaster also avoided the risk of pursuing an unsustainable recovery based on temporary appointments or relying on external support. The commissioners were clear that ownership should remain with the council. The test for ending the intervention was not whether services had returned to a good standard, but whether commissioners were confident that the council could reach that point without further external support. In contrast, in Tower Hamlets in 2014, the commissioners sent in by then-communities secretary Eric Pickles formed an executive board and replaced the council in the day-to-day running of services.

Failure is not going to go away, but at least we can minimise its impact if the government is prepared to learn lessons from the past. There is plenty of scope for improvement.

Oliver Ilott is a researcher at the Institute for Government.

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Has government learned the vital lessons of public service failures?

Sufferers denied vital operations by NHS bodies, surgeons report

Shadow well being secretary Andy Burnham. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Sufferers are getting denied accessibility to crucial surgery by NHS bodies, which are ignoring suggestions and choosing to ration some operations, according to an investigation by the Royal College of Surgeons.

The surgeon’s report mentioned that 73% of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) –the GP-led organisations concerned in the delivery of a variety of NHS solutions – do not adhere to guidelines set down by the National Institute for Wellness and Care Excellence and clinical advice on referral for hip replacements, or have no policy in place for this procedure.

It also located that much more than a third of CCGs (44%) need individuals to be in a variety of degrees of pain and immobility – with no consistency applied across the nation – or to get rid of bodyweight before surgery.

Clare Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “This report looks to demonstrate that local commissioners are imposing arbitrary rules governing access to some routine surgical procedure.

“The inspiration might not be monetary but it is clear that some CCGs do not commission providers making use of clinically accepted evidence-primarily based guidance.”

The report, Is Access to Surgical treatment A Postcode Lottery?, analysed details obtained under the Freedom of Data Act and looked at tonsillectomy, hip substitute, inguinal hernia restore and surgical remedy for glue ear (Otitis media with effusion). Only 27% of CCGs reviewed have been discovered to have had policies that complied with Nice or surgical guidance on inguinal hernia fix, whilst 58% have no policy at all. As a lot of as 15% essential evidence of a hernia escalating in size or a history of reoccurring problems, even if a patient is in debilitating pain.

Responding to the report, the physique representing CCGs explained that they were clinically led organisations that make clinically led selections centred on the needs of their individuals and local populations.

“To insinuate that their determination is purely economic is wrong,” mentioned Dr Steve Kell, co-chair of NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC). “There have to be a stability between neighborhood determination generating and nationwide recommendations and NHSCC will be functioning with Great and other people to make sure that occurs. In my CCG, for example, we have developed greatest practice guides with the neighborhood consultants to improve primary and secondary care management which replaced the old method in which individuals essential prior authorisation. This type of locally designed perform is going on correct across the country.”

Dr Amanda Doyle, co-chair of NHSCC, extra “Making sure sufferers get the ideal possible care against a backdrop of increasingly squeezed finances is one particular of the biggest problems CCGs face, but we know that clinical commissioners are currently operating challenging to improve neighborhood providers by producing responsible, clinically led selections in partnership with GPs, individuals and companies.”

“Asking sufferers to shed weight just before having hip operations is about decreasing the clinical threat to the patient and bettering the possibility of a effective operations, it is not about money. Tonsillectomy, despite the fact that 1 of the most common procedures still carries risks to the patient – the observe and wait strategy indicates clinicians can assess the severity and frequency of attacks to guarantee the benefit of having an operation outweighs the risks to the patient.”

The report was seized on by the Labour get together, which sought to link its findings to the government’s NHS reorganisation.

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Wellness Secretary, mentioned: “Labour often warned that David Cameron’s re-organisation would be an assault on the ‘N’ in ‘NHS’ and lead to a postcode lottery operating riot. This is precisely what has occurred.”

“Sufferers should not be waiting in soreness and discomfort for operations that are freely offered elsewhere. Ministers promised to rule out arbitrary rationing and they can’t run from this guarantee any longer.”

The Royal College of Surgeons suggested that the Government and NHS England need to have to evaluation what even more action is essential to ensure the NHS is delivering equitable entry to substantial top quality surgical care.

Sufferers denied vital operations by NHS bodies, surgeons report

Star Trek "Tricorder" Gives Vital Nutrition Information

Historically, it has been quite tough for people to find detailed details about the foods they consume.  Food labels, which are the most fast source of dietary data, provide couple of insights about how meals is ready, harvested, or modified.

“Augmented nutrition” refers to the use of technologies — specifically individuals integrated into mobile gadgets — that gather, analyze, and supply true-time dietary data such as calorie counts, elements, and chemical substances of particular meals.  This augmented dietary details is helping shoppers make much better food choices.

Fard Johnmar, digital overall health futurist and co-writer of ePatient 2015, explained, “Unlike numerous digital trends, augmented nutrition is currently being driven by broader global, cultural, and client requirements and wishes, rather than engineering.”  He suggests that augmented nutrition need to be viewed as an outgrowth of the steadily expanding international meals motion, which is focused on assisting individuals make far more informed dietary decisions based on higher access to info about food’s health and environmental impacts.

Jennifer Jensen Wallach, writer of How America Eats: A Social Historical past of U.S. Foods and Culture, has observed that strong social and cultural forces contribute to more than-eating and bad diet regime.  Digital technologies targeted on delivering augmented nutrition data could counteract these pressures by putting folks in speak to with other folks who share their beliefs and values about food, and can assist them develop and keep healthful eating habits.

Given that ePatient 2015 locations the augmented nutrition trend in the context of the global meals motion, it’s well worth examining a commonly cited criticism of it: that only the affluent are concerned about items like purchasing natural and locally grown food items.  If the cultural mores and aspirations of the food motion do not extend to all segments of society, there is less fertile ground for the augmented nutrition trend to spread.

To deal with this query, the innovation consultancy run by Johnmar (Enspektos) surveyed a statistically representative group of digitally savvy, U.S. wellness shoppers (which the authors phone “ePatients”) in 2012.  They identified that about 50% of ePatients making $ 30,000 or much less a yr think purchasing and cooking organic food items is essential.  This analysis suggests that a lot of Americans, irrespective of economic status, share an curiosity in problems essential to men and women in the foods motion.

Augmented dietary info is assisting customers make far better foods options. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So in which and how is augmented nutrition getting utilized in the real world?  In early 2014, health-related futurist Dr. Bertalan Meskó stated that the world’s 1st “really useful” foods scanners were coming to market place.  He highlighted a technologies created by Toronto-primarily based firm Tellspec.  Making use of a device reminiscent of a Star Trek tricorder, customers can detect allergens, chemical substances, and nutrients in meals.  Meskó believes that these units will genuinely come into their own when data collected from augmented nutrition equipment is combined with other info, this kind of as our genetic profile, to aid people make really informed choices about what meals to consume primarily based on their genetic danger for a variety of diseases.

A selection of businesses, which includes Excess weight Watchers, are already making use of augmented nutrition resources, such as mobile-based barcode scanners, to assist men and women far better recognize how the food they buy and consume will influence their excess weight-loss goals.

Johnmar suggests that augmented nutrition technologies will only achieve in recognition as they turn out to be more user-pleasant and integrated into other units and appliances this kind of as refrigerators and microwaves.

Now, if they would only cook for us …

Robert J. Szczerba is the CEO of X Tech Ventures and author of the Forbes column “Rocket Science Meets Brain Surgery.”  Comply with him via Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Star Trek "Tricorder" Gives Vital Nutrition Information

Outdated, sick and poor will end taking vital drugs, wellness economists warn

Many of Australia’s oldest, sickest and poorest patients will end taking important and potentially existence-conserving drugs if expenditure advice presented by the Department of Health to the Commission of Audit is adopted by the government, foremost overall health economists say.

The division recommended folks be produced to pay far more for government-subsidised health care providers and medicines, the Australian reported on Monday, since it would lead them to cut paying on unproven and discretionary treatments. Forcing customers to cut their discretionary investing could reduce pressure on the federal health budget, the department’s recommendations said.

But an assistant professor from the Centre for Well being Companies at the University of Western Australia, Anna Kemp, mentioned there was no evidence for the relationship in between spending on prescription medicines and on unproven drugs.

“The department is assuming that people folks using prescription medicines are the same folks making use of unproven treatments, but there is not any proof to help that and we do not know how considerably overlap there is in between the two groups,” she advised Guardian Australia.

“But what we do know is that when there is an increase in the value of subsidised medicines, there are massive decreases in the sum men and women spend on people medicines.”

It was accurate that making medicines much more high-priced led to some waste reduction, Kemp mentioned. But this did not inform the complete story because the use of critical prescription medicines went down as well. This was especially the case for folks with far more than one issue who took multiple medicines, she said. They typically stopped taking some when the price tag of medication enhanced.

“The suggestions are based on the assumption that men and women know adequate about what their medication do to make very good, informed selections about which drugs they can do with no, but we know that’s not the case,” Kemp explained.

In the federal price range the government proposed to improve current drug co-payments and introduce a $ seven co-payment for GP visits.

Kemp’s personal analysis unveiled that modifications to the prescription drugs co-payment in 2005 had a significant impact on the capability of sufferers to afford vital medicines. Concession card holders had been worst impacted, Kemp identified, since they frequently took the most medicines. An improve of about 90 cents per script became too a lot of a expense burden in excess of time. Dispensing volumes fell in twelve out of 17 medication classes, with anti-epileptics, anti-Parkinson’s treatment options, mixture asthma medicines, eye-drops and glaucoma treatments amid individuals falling in use.

The drugs men and women were most most likely to quit taking were individuals they did not instantly feel advantage from, Kemp explained.

“So they may quit taking their osteoporosis medicine for strengthening their bones, since they won’t observe any big difference – right up until they fall and get a broken hip.

“You can either have a waste-evidence program that is unaffordable [for sufferers], or an reasonably priced system that is susceptible to waste, and our study identified the government was heading also far in direction of the former.”

A much more sensible strategy would be to improve the price to the patient of newer medicines for which less costly, often only somewhat much less efficient substitutes existed, stated Professor Philip Clarke, a leading wellness economist at the University of Melbourne’s school of population and international well being.

“The division hasn’t made any differentiation among subsidised pricey medicines and less expensive drugs,” he said.

“Why not introduce differential co-payments, where people spend much more for drugs with significantly less advantage, or for much less confirmed, newer drugs? This whole issue of co-payments wants a more rational debate.”

The chief executive of the Customer Overall health Forum, Adam Stankevicius, explained it would be “very concerning” if guidance from the department suggested that out-of-pocket overall health costs by folks were discretionary.

“It would be really surprising if the government were suggesting that wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, dental companies and prescribed drugs are discretionary,” he explained. “For overall health consumers, they are regarded crucial to their everyday lives.”

A Wellness Department spokeswoman, Kay McNeice, informed Guardian Australia that contrary to the report in the Australian, the info the department had provided to the Committee of Audit was not a submission.

“Rather, on request, the department offered info on a range of concerns,” she said.

The department did not immediately reply to distinct concerns on its recommendations from Guardian Australia.

Outdated, sick and poor will end taking vital drugs, wellness economists warn

"Will I lose my hair?": how wigs can be vital in dealing with cancer

Finding the appropriate type and colour is paramount, says best hairdresser Trevor Sorbie. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

3 many years in the past Sandra Jones was diagnosed with an aggressive variety of breast cancer. In an instant, the c-word stripped the globe she knew away from her. But, regardless of the worries and emotions she was experiencing, the 1st question the 45-year-previous necessary answering was: “Will I lose my hair?”

For numerous ladies undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it is not just a question of vanity. “Our hair is our crowning glory,” says Jones. “Shedding it is this kind of a daily life-altering and distressing encounter. It was about losing my identity and femininity.”

Jones had been produced redundant just weeks prior to obtaining the information, which set her on a path to an uncertain potential, with no work and the frightening prospect of invasive surgical procedure and weeks of exhausting therapy. Rather of crumbling underneath pressure, she made a decision to take handle and put together for the inevitable – by purchasing a wig.

The hairpiece was transformative. It allowed her to live her life, not as a sick individual but as a wife and pal. Without the wig, Jones believes she would have felt vulnerable and isolated, trapped by the stigma of being a bald girl. Realising other people may possibly not share her resilience, she founded Wigsense, a enterprise that offers a personalised services for girls undergoing healthcare hair reduction.

“Searching in the mirror for the very first time sporting a wig, I felt glamorous, assured and my self-esteem soared by means of the roof,” she recalls. “Without having it, I don’t know exactly where else I would have got the strength from.”

Discovering the correct fashion and colour is paramount, says leading hairdresser Trevor Sorbie. The multi-award-winning stylist, accountable for trend trends this kind of as the wedge and the scrunch, founded charity My New Hair to teach hairdressers to reduce the wigs of cancer sufferers undergoing chemotherapy. The thought is to subtly lower and shape them to make them look significantly less like wigs and far more like hair. Soon after a visit to ten Downing Street, he is also assisting to draw up a common nationwide policy for NHS wigs.

Sorbie left behind the glamour of catwalk exhibits and running a productive styling brand following witnessing the dehumanising impact of the illness on his sister-in-law Jackie, who died of bone cancer. He explains how he bought a wig to help her regain her confidence and really feel attractive. After he had customised it, Sorbie remembers, she looked in the mirror and burst out in tears of joy. Which is when the penny dropped. He determined to use his passion for hair styling to assist other females struggling from health care hair reduction come to feel equally particular.

“If a lady loses her hair, you’ve just lost half the lady. She loses her femininity, her confidence, her self-esteem. It is much more than just a illness, it has a damaging psychological impact,” explains Sorbie. And he says he has met four females now who would refuse treatment method for their terminal cancer rather than shed their hair.

Hairdressers, he believes, can play an crucial part in treating the psychological signs of health care hair reduction. Sorbie recalls operating in a hospice and seeing 1st hand the good effects of a wig. He was asked by a nurse to reduce a wig for a girl who was obtaining married that day, and had only hours to live. She was lying in bed wearing her wedding dress, her daughter was next to her and she was surrounded by streamers and balloons.

He says: “I was there for about twenty minutes cutting this wig and I tell you what, we have been laughing and joking. I wasn’t in a space with a female dying, I was in a area with a lady acquiring married. I left her with a smile on her encounter. For that quick time she was enjoying herself and her lifestyle.”

Sporting a wig during and soon after a program of chemo or radiotherapy is not necessarily a physically relaxed answer. A wig is a bit like a hat. It sits on your head and on a sizzling day you are going to sweat. The most crucial thing is that it has to be safe, otherwise it can irritate the scalp and leave a mark on your hairline if it is too tight. For some folks, chemo can also make the scalp really delicate. In that situation, you can put on a stocking in excess of the head as an additional layer to defend the skin.

Preparation prior to treatment method commences is paramount for each bodily and psychological wellbeing. It truly is crucial you get employed to wearing the wig beforehand and Jennifer Gorrie, cancer data nurse specialist at Macmillan, also recommends cutting your hair brief in advance and forewarning family members. Gorrie says this can be empowering for many girls, who come to feel that by taking handle and shaving their heads they have decided when the hair is going, not the chemotherapy.

Of course, not everyone feels the need to wear a wig. A lot of females with medical hair reduction pick to cover their heads with a scarf or a hat. It really is a personalized choice, but for several individuals, being bald is a agonizing reminder of their diagnosis both to themselves and other folks. A wig can be much more than just a self-confidence increase it can aid a girl flourish on the street to recovery.

"Will I lose my hair?": how wigs can be vital in dealing with cancer

Extensive Eye Exams Vital for Preschool Preparations (and Existence)

Though we may be creeping up on summertime, this is the time of the 12 months numerous mothers and fathers across the nation are making preparations for preschoolers to enter school following fall for the very very first time. A single issue that’s often ignored is a preschool eye examination. Youthful kids can usually have a vision-relevant problem with no a single ever noticing that some thing may be incorrect.

It should be pretty obvious how a vision dilemma could negatively have an effect on their potential to learn when they get into school. But there’s much more to it than that. Vision issues in youthful young children, even mild situations, can lead to long lasting injury even as an adult if they aren’t discovered and handled. Some could even lead to a reduction of vision.

Emotional And Social Has an effect on of a Vision Difficulty

It can also impact their emotional well-being and social interaction, as well. In this day in age, “fitting in” is tougher than ever to do for some youngsters. In a report published in the Journal of Behavioral Optometry by Joel N. Zaba M.A., O.D., it’s mentioned that a problem with a child’s eyesight can influence their self-self-assurance. It can consequence in heightened feeling of not belonging and fitting in, inadequacy and even delinquency.

Eye Issues Far more Frequent than Considered

Not also extended ago, it was believed that about one particular in twenty children entering or attending preschool had a vision dilemma. That transformed in 2011, when studies have been revealed by Ophthalmology’s October, 2011 concern. The very same had been presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAA) meeting. This research showed that there are many a lot more youngsters needing eyesight care, with the numbers going up to one in each and every four youngsters.

Children at Danger

The above studies also indicated that kids exposed to smoke or these who come from families with less-than-stellar wellness insurance coverage are at a greater danger for vision issues. Refractive mistakes in eyesight might not look considerable, but they put youngsters at larger chance of much more serious troubles. Even the slightest refractive mistakes can improve their risk, which makes it all the a lot more important to guarantee youngsters are screened since a lot of of these errors can be corrected with eyeglasses.

The research located the following in terms of refractive errors:

• Nearsightedness was recognized in four % of the preschoolers


• Farsightedness was recognized in 21 percent of the preschoolers


• Astigmatism due to a curvature in the cornea was recognized in 10 % of the preschoolers
  

Note that nearsightedness and astigmatism are attainable to outgrow as children get older, but is not assured. Farsightedness cannot be outgrown. Some children have been found to have troubles far more significant, such as lazy eye (five %) and strabismus or “cross eyes” (two percent). These issues can definitely lead to permanent loss of vision if not handled early. Point Grey optometrists stage out that some of these can be efficiently taken care of via not just eyeglasses but vision treatment, too.

Because the scientific studies have been a one-time assessment of the kids, researchers say that a lot more studies require to be completed. But as a mother or father, these research and the fact that 80 % of finding out for the duration of the very first twelve years of existence is completed visually, should be enough information to give trigger for thorough and ongoing eye exams. The free screenings done by most colleges or in preschool readiness assessments will not lower it, in accordance to the American Optometric Association. 

Extensive Eye Exams Vital for Preschool Preparations (and Existence)

Vitamin D: The Body’s Vital Nutrient

Theoretically, our bodies make loads of Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, when exposed to the sun. But these days, individuals shy away from the sun, due to cancer concerns, or lather on the sunscreen. We devote also significantly time in homes, on the Tv or the laptop, and numerous of us perform inside. All of this blocks the production of Vitamin D. So it’s no shock that three of every 4 Americans are deficient in Vitamin D!

Some people make ample quantities in the summer season, but Vitamin D levels commence to lower when daylight savings time alterations or when the sun is reduce in the horizon. Sun is too reduced throughout winter months to even stimulate your body’s manufacturing of D.

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that functions along with Vitamin A to make use of calcium and phosphorus to create bones and teeth. Even though we get in touch with it a vitamin, it really is a hormone produced by the sun. Deficiency final results in nearsightedness, psoriasis, soft teeth, muscle cramps and tics, slow healing, insomnia, nosebleeds, rapidly heartbeat, arthritis and osteoporosis. Vitamin D also aids with all eye troubles such as eye spots, conjunctivitis, and glaucoma.

Positive aspects include:

1. Vitamin D is necessary for regular insulin function and regulation of blood sugar. It also aids avoid foot infections, which scientific studies demonstrate, can come from lower amounts of Vitamin D.


2. In obesity, Vitamin D is stored in unwanted fat tissue which prevents it from getting utilised by the rest of the body. Consequently these people are at large danger for deficient Vitamin D.


3. Larger Vitamin D offers a lot of ladies an edge to surviving breast cancer and decreases in tumor dimension.


4. Low Vitamin D contributes to Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS looks to be increased in people living more away from the equator.


5. Research have found that Vitamin D supplementation lowers senior’s chance of bone fracture, suggested dose of two,000 IU’s or a lot more every day.


6. Evidence has been mounting that Autism and Vitamin D are linked, since “D’ regulates thousands of genes in the human genome. Probably a part of today’s Autism epidemic!


7. Therapy with Vitamin D is connected with a lowered chance of mortality among individuals with Kidney condition.


8. In Osteoporosis, the part of Vitamin D in skeletal maintenance is very important and aids absorption of calcium. Also consuming meals substantial in Vitamin D like avocados, salmon, sardines, milk and greens are quite valuable.

Dr. Lars Reynmark of Denmark wrote that Vitamin D deficiency affects risks of many different conditions. Supplementation can turn out to be a necessity if or until the entire body can generate it by itself. Latest studies discovered taking 2,000 IU of D3 daily was not adequate for many to boost ranges to typical ranges. In most situations 5,000 IU resulted in significantly far better accomplishment.

D3 is greater absorbed than D2, and in fact D2 can reduced your degree of D3 even a lot more! I advocate taking D3 in liquid type or in a homeopathic sublingual tablet to make sure it gets into the system. Others desire the capsule or tablet which may get longer to break up in the physique. For myself, I favor the homeopathic type of D3 in 5000 IU’s everyday.

References:

The Green Pharmacy by James Duke

www.lifeextension.com

www.naturalnews.com

www.healthyhealing.com

Vitamin D: The Body’s Vital Nutrient

Consider Making use of Peppermint Vital Oil for Your Sore Throat

Peppermint may be acknowledged by you as a seasoning in tea and toothpaste, nevertheless it’s also utilized medicinally to handle many distinct ailments. Folks all in excess of the world use peppermint vital oil to assist with stomach upset, headaches, pressure, menstrual cramps, and even a sore throat. Even though it is a lot more effectively known for helping with joint troubles, stomach difficulties, headaches, pressure, and for a fast boost of power, it can also support to sooth your troubled throat.

Greatest Way to Get Peppermint Oil
Menthol, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in peppermint, is for sale in a variety of more than the counter things for healing colds and sore throats. These typically include syrups, inhalations, lozenges and chest rubs. Nonetheless, acquiring a higher good quality peppermint important oil is typically going be greater for your overall health in the brief and prolonged phrase. Peppermint oil is inhaled by numerous people for healing apparent signs of cough, colds, and sore throats. When you use peppermint vital oil, you can include just one-3 drops to any tea to expertise some quite powerful rewards. You can also make use of the oil as a rub on your throat or chest. If used in this way it might want to be diluted 1st this is based on the strength and good quality of the oil you purchase.

Effectiveness of Peppermint Oil
Preliminary research signifies that peppermint crucial oil might support alleviate your sore throat. Final results of one particular study unveiled that an important oil mix combining peppermint created key and prompt improvement in signs and symptoms compared to placebo. The NIH states that additional analysis is nonetheless essential for conclusive outcomes, even so.

A lot more data About Your Sore Throat
At instances, your throat may possibly become raw due to an assortment of triggers, like allergic reactions, bacterial illnesses, or the frequent cold. Treating a sore throat genuinely depends on the cause that it is sore to get started with, and there are plenty of treatments for dealing with it. From making use of a assortment of herbs, to crucial oils, to gargles, humidifiers and more, there are a myriad of techniques to help ease your discomfort, and some operate better than other folks based mostly on the lead to of the sore throat.

About the Author

Joshua Rogers at writes about a variety of all-natural property remedies and the wonderful healing powers of herbs. You can follow him on Facebook and on Google+.

Consider Making use of Peppermint Vital Oil for Your Sore Throat