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Statins reduce efficacy of flu jab, loneliness a health issue and doctors suspended for poor English

We start today with a study that is everywhere, including the Telegraph, showing that statins can stop the flu jab from working properly, making pensioners more vulnerable to dangerous strains.

The studies in the US, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, show that statins can cut protective antibodies by up to 67%.

The Telegraph report also mentions Pulse’s exclusive story that GPs are defying pressure to prescribe statins.

The Times (subscription) puts Pulse’s story on its front page – but takes the strange angle that thousands of patients are being ‘denied’ statins.

Elsewhere, in Scotland, the Scottish Parliament’s equal opportunities committee has said loneliness is ‘as damaging to Scots health as poverty and poor housing’, the BBC reports.

It called for the government to prioritise loneliness and isolation as a public health issue.

Finally, two EU doctors have become the first to be disciplined under new laws for doctors to speak satisfactory English, the Guardian reports.

Dr Tomasz Fryzlewicz, a Polish cardiologist, was told he must work under direct supervision for a year by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, while Dr Allessandro Teppa, an Italian doctor working at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch hospital, was suspended for nine months.


          

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