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Half a million women at higher risk should be screened aged 30, says study
Half a million women in the UK who are deemed to be at a higher risk of developing breast cancer should be screened for the disease early, according to a new study.
 From the age of 50, all women are invited for a mammogram or X-ray every three years until they reach 70. This is being extended from 47 to 73, but a cancer genetics expert is calling for the age limit to be lowered to 30 for those at higher risk.
Almost 500,000 women under 40 are classified as having a moderate risk of breast cancer because of their family history, reports the Daily Mail.
The study, carried out by Professor Gareth Evans of Manchester University and published in the medical journal Familial Cancer, suggests that a screening programme targeted at those most at risk could save lives by detecting cancers early on, enabling more effective treatment.
Professor Evans said he hopes the study will lead to women at higher risk being offered screening from the age of 30.
He said: “These results are an exciting first step into stratifying screening to a more targeted group of women at increased risk of breast cancer.”
The next phase of the study will be a clinical trial involving 2,800 women from across Britain to confirm the results and analyse the cost effectiveness of annual checks for women at moderate risk.
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Office workers who sit next to the window as they work are often more productive than colleagues who spend the day further away from daylight.
Scientists say that sitting next to the office window could in fact double workers’ alertness and make them happier.
 Speaking at the at Cheltenham Science Festival this week, Oxford University neuroscientist Russell Foster said exposure to bright light helps us to regulate sleep, boosts our mood and even raises our productivity levels.
Sitting next to the office window on a sunny day can help double an individual’s alertness compared to those stuck in the middle of a room under artificial lights, he said.
Studies have linked light to the release of the hormone serotonin which may explain why the majority of people enjoy being out in the sunshine, the Daily Mail reports.
 Foster said: “If you do not get any other light during the day, make sure you get out and experience morning light, which help set the body clock. Outside light is bright enough to do the job, even on a dim day.
“But the brightness of the day affects how much light enters your home or office. This can have a real impact on the quality of your sleep and this has a knock-on effect on your brain function. The better light, the better sleep, the sharper you are.”
The number of people on NHS hospital waiting lists in England rose by 4,500 to stand at 1,039,000 in January, the Government said today.
Ministers said the increase had been kept to a minimum during one of the busiest periods of the year for the health service and pointed out that waiting lists rose by 11,000 in January last year.
 But 1,880 more operations were cancelled during the last quarter of 2000, as hospitals scrapped routine surgery to deal with emergency cases.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn today announced the first pilot schemes under which patients who have their operation cancelled at short notice will have to have another date within 28 days – or have their surgery done privately and paid for by the hospital Trust.
The number of people waiting more than a year for in-patient treatment fell by 1,310 to 47,100 in January.
Just two people had waited longer than the Government’s pledged maximum of 18 months.
The relatively small rise in the waiting figures will be seen by ministers as a triumph for the unprecedented planning that went into avoiding another damaging winter crisis this year.
But the rise in the number of cancelled operations shows that many hospitals were forced to cancel routine surgery, often on the day patients were expecting to be treated, because of winter pressures.
 NHS Rationing Under the pilot projects announced by Mr Milburn today, nine hospital Trusts will have to ensure that patients whose operation is cancelled on the day of surgery do get their treatment within 28 days.
If the Trust itself cannot do the operation within that time, it will have to pay for treatment at the time and hospital of the patient’s choice – including private units.
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Weekend and evening appointments could also be scaled back
A limit on the number of times patients can visit their GP in a year is being considered by the Conservative Party, reports suggest.
A Tory consultation document on local health provision asks activists whether evening and weekend appointments are a “luxury” the NHS can not afford.
 It also asks whether they agree or disagree with the idea of an annual limit on GP appointments, the Independent on Sunday (IoS) reports.
The proposals follows the suggestion by NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar last week that patients should be encouraged to email or phone their GP to outline their medical complaints rather than coming into surgeries for face-to-face assessments.
They have also fuelled the debate over access to GPs, out-of-hours services, and the pressure on accident and emergency departments.
Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the idea was “short-sighted”.
Labour said the proposed limit was a threat to the core NHS principle of access based on clinical need.
The policy is mooted in a document by the Conservative Policy Forum, chaired by Oliver Letwin and supported by the Tory co-chairman Grant Shapps.
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Type 2 diabetes can now be considered ‘common’ among the under 40s, according to a leading researcher, as a new study reveals a sharp rise in the number of people with the condition in the UK.
Research by Cardiff University shows that in 1991 there were some 150 cases of the condition per 100,000 people aged under 40, which has risen by around 270% in 20 years to reach 500 cases per 100,000 people, the BBC reports.
The average age at which people develop the disease is also falling; the proportion of people under 40 with the condition has increased from 5% to 12%.
Professor Craig Currie, of Cardiff University’s School of Medicine and leader of the research, said type 2 diabetes can now be considered common among the relatively young.
He said the rise in cases will “undoubtedly place an increasing burden on healthcare resources and result in poorer quality of life”.
He added that it has been known for some that the incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing in the UK, particularly among younger people, which the research has confirmed by analysing NHS data.
Professor Currie said the rise is thought to be down to a number of factors, such as obesity, diet and family history.
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Health and social care will be ‘fully joined-up’ – with vulnerable people no longer being passed between services and fewer falling through the gaps – by 2018, the Government has pledged today.
 The Government says joined-up health and community care is not currently the norm, meaning people often receive ‘disjointed’ support which does not meet their needs.
Common problems include elderly people being discharged from hospital to homes not adapted to their needs, and patients facing long waits in hospital before being discharged because of inadequate coordination between hospital and social care staff.
In plans unveiled by care and support minister Norman Lamb, organisations including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England have signed up to a ‘shared commitment’.
This document includes 10 commitments which every organisation has pledged to deliver, including using national resources to support local work.
In addition, a series of pioneer projects will be launched by September, which will explore new ways of pooling budgets and speeding up discharge from hospitals.
New ways of measuring patients’ experiences to ensure the measures are successful will also be developed by the end of the year.
The Department for Health said a more integrated health and care system will bring benefits to many people – particularly the elderly and those with long-term conditions such as diabetes – while it will also bring efficiency and financial benefits.
Lamb said: “People don’t want health care or social care; they just want the best care. This is a vital step in creating a truly joined-up system that puts people first.”
He said that the NHS and care system is “heading for a crisis” unless changes are made, and that today’s national commitment to working together “is an important moment in ensuring we have a system which is fit for the future”.
Dr Johnny Marshall, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said the announcement marks “a positive step forward in improving the care that people receive”.
But he said for it to be truly successful, the initiative requires local organisations to have “real power over how best to improve care in their areas”.
He added: “If we can crack this nut, and truly transform the way physical and mental health care and social care are joined up, it will deliver big benefits to the overall system, and more importantly to the people who rely on the care provided to them.”
Group risk provider Canada Life is warning employers to be alive to the risks associated with presenteeism, as a survey by the insurer shows more than nine in 10 employees have gone to work while ill.
A number of experts have warned in recent months that presenteeism – where employees come to work despite being ill – is on the rise, with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development claiming last year that a fall in sickness absence levels could be masking deeper problems in the workplace.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the average number of sick days has fallen every year since 2007, decreasing from 5.6 days a year in 2007 to 4.5 a year in 2011
And today, a poll of 1,000 UK workers by Canada Life shows that 93% of respondents say they have gone to work when ill.
Of those who have done so, 76% said although they felt ill, they did not think the condition was serious enough to take time off.
But 31% said their workload was too great to take time off, while 20% said they worried about the financial implications of taking sick leave, and 19% said other colleagues made them feel guilty for taking time off.
Some 13% of respondents said they felt too threatened by the risk of redundancy to call in sick.
As a result, around a quarter (26%) have used their holiday allowance whilst off sick to avoid gaining a poor sickness record or falling foul of their employer’s sickness absence policy.
The survey also found that 82% of those who came into work when they were unwell said they performed worse, while over a third (37%) are not aware of any form of workplace support for sickness absence in their organisation, and a further 13% said they definitely do not have this.
 Dont forget your health Paul Avis, marketing director of Canada Life Group, said it is “worrying” that workers are so reluctant to take time off when unwell, which he warned could make employees’ health worse in the long run.
He said: “It is worrying that the UK’s workers are so reluctant to take time off even when they are genuinely unwell. Anxieties about a heavy workload, risk of redundancy and criticism from other colleagues are preventing employees from taking the sick leave that they need, yet are also no doubt exacerbating certain conditions, particularly those that are stress-related.”
He added that employers need to do more to make their stance on sickness absence clear.
Avis said: “Employees should not be discouraged from taking time off when they are genuinely unwell, as presenteeism creates not only an unpleasant working environment but also one that is counter-productive. Staff need to feel that they won’t be penalised for taking sick leave and organisations therefore should ensure they communicate their support.”
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Study highlights inequalities across the nation
People who live in Manchester are more likely to die from coronary heart disease than anywhere else in the UK, research has found.
 The area of Tameside in the city is the UK’s ‘heart disease capital’, the report from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) suggests.
Individuals there are three times more likely to suffer heart problems than people in Kensington and Chelsea in London, where people have the healthiest hearts, the BHF said.
Every year in Tameside, there are 132 deaths per every 100,000 people, while in the London borough the figure stands at just 39 per 100,000.
Ballymoney in Northern Ireland and Glasgow have the second and third highest death rates respectively, the charity said.
Professor Peter Weissberg, BHF medical director, said: “These latest figures expose staggering inequalities in deaths from heart disease across the UK. But it’s unacceptable that people continue to die from heart attacks, regardless of their postcode.”
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Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) can be a useful tool when it comes to supporting employees in the workplace but businesses need to consider more ‘proactive and preventative’ measures as part of their stress management strategy, according to a senior consultant at Towers Watson, the employee benefits consultancy.
Rebekah Haymes said that while many employers now have EAPs – telephone helplines either with or without access to face-to-face counselling – in place, it is important that they consider implementing other measures such as stress resilience training as part of their approach to workforce health and wellbeing.
Haymes was commenting on the findings of Towers Watson’s latest Health, Wellbeing and Productivity survey which shows that 88% of organisations that have taken steps to help manage employee stress mainly do so by introducing an EAP.
Another popular approach, according to the survey, is support for flexible working, which is a policy taken by around three quarters (73%) of employers who have taken steps to tackle stress.
But Haymes said that fewer companies are taking steps to pre-empt stress arising as an issue for their staff with just one-third of firms having education and awareness campaigns in place or having introduced risk assessments or stress audits.
Haymes said that Towers Watson’s experience indicates an increase in demand from employers for employee resilience training. This, she said, will continue to play an important role as part of stress management programmes.
Haymes said: “EAPs are widely seen as a valuable tool to alleviate employee concerns and any associated feelings of stress and anxiety. However, with absences due to stress on the increase there is a greater need to consider more preventative measures. This might simply be education and awareness about the signs of stress and the provision of tools to help employees cope more effectively. Even so, education and communication can go a long way towards breaking the taboo of dealing with stress and the associated stigmas.”
The survey also shows that over 40% of employers already have stress management programmes in place and an additional 31% plan to introduce them in the next two years.
Haymes said: “The current focus for many employers is largely on help at the point of need; however, in future, they do foresee emphasising prevention, particularly with regard to managing stress levels.
“Stress can have a major negative impact on the productivity of employees. That employers are now starting to focus on prevention and encouraging healthier lifestyles is a step in the right direction.”
According to the survey, almost all (98%) of employers that are able to measure wellbeing feel stress is an issue for their workforce, while a similar percentage (97%) believe work-life balance is also an issue. In response, the survey shows that improving the mental health of workers is the second highest priority for employers (62%), with raising employee engagement being their number one priority.
Younger people even less likely to consult GP for advice
Britons are more than twice as likely to consult the internet for health advice as they are to see their doctor, a survey has revealed.
A poll of 2,000 people found that half of respondents go online for lifestyle and nutritional tips, while 23% rely on newspapers and magazines and 20% turn to their GP.
The Daily Mail reports the trend is even more marked for younger consumers; 56% of 25 to 34 year olds consult the internet for health advice, and only 16% would go to their doctor. Further, 27% of people in this age group say the internet is the most influential factor for them when making lifestyle choices.
The research, by campaign group Wholegrain Goodness, also found that one in five people admit to having ‘no idea’ whether their diet is healthy, and half are unclear on the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables.
Nutritionist Azmina Govindji, a member of the British Dietetic Association, said there are dangers associated with failing to get the correct health advice.
She said: “The research shows people are relying less and less on their GP or dieticians when it comes to seeking medical and nutritional advice.”
She said it is essential that the information people rely on to make lifestyle changes is “safe, accurate, and ideally, evidence based”.
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From the age of 50, all women are invited for a mammogram or X-ray every three years until they reach 70. This is being extended from 47 to 73, but a cancer genetics expert is calling for the age limit to be lowered to 30 for those at higher risk.
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