Welcome to the first of this year’s weekly Medical News summary blog. This week’s Medical News blog will cover the latest headlines in health and medical news from the 27th of December to the 3rd of January.
Sources indicate that 45,000 junior doctors are likely to go on strike on the 13th January by providing only emergency cover in hospitals. The threat comes after three weeks of talks between NHS bosses and the government have failed to resolve the ongoing dispute over the contract disagreement. The British Medical Association (BMA) will shortly be giving a statement outlining how many days of industrial action will be taken and to what degree junior doctors will be withdrawing labour. In December, the negations that were overseen by the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) led to some progress, and the leader of the junior doctors committee of the BMA, Dr Malawana, was pleased with this progress. However, Dr Malawana stated that there were still areas of disagreement. A key area of disagreement is thought to be that the government wish to stop the automatic annual salary increases that junior doctors currently receive.
Research conducted by Alzheimer’s Society shows that those suffering with dementia require more visits from relatives and friends to prevent loneliness. Currently, two in every five people questioned believe that dementia sufferers do not benefit from seeing loved ones that they may no longer recognise. Research also shows that 64% of people with dementia felt isolated from their friends and family following their diagnosis. The charity fear that over half of those with dementia continue to feel isolated as visits often decline as the disease progresses. Alzheimer’s Society highlighted that those with the disease still had an “emotional memory” and that visits from their loved ones was likely to trigger feelings of “familiarity, happiness, comfort and security”. The chief executive of the charity, Jeremy Hughes has indicated that this time of year can be especially lonely as visitors often spend time with those with dementia over Christmas but not in the start of the New Year.
The Local Government Association have urged the makers of alcoholic drinks to display the calorie content on bottles and cans. The Local Government Association (The LGA) believes that drinkers should be warned of the calorie count to avoid weight gain caused by alcoholic drinks. The LGA represents just under 400 councils and believes that the obesity crisis is partly caused by hidden calories. Calories in alcohol are classed as “empty calories” due to the fact that the drinks have no nutritional value and because when alcohol is consumed the amount of fat that is burnt by the body for energy is reduced. To give an idea of the number of calories within alcohol a 4.5% pint of cider contains 216 calories which is the equivalent amount of calories as three-quarters of a burger. The LGA hope that by including calorie information on the packaging, members of the public will be able to make informed decisions about their drinking habits.
Uploaded by Alessandra on the 3rd January, 2016
