A ‘damning’ report by the Parliamentary Health Ombudsman has revealed that thousands of people face poor end-of-life NHS care with many dying without dignity, according to a news story in the Daily Mail.
Lack of pain relief and long delays for routine treatment were cited in the report. One example given was that of a 60-year-old with kidney failure who waited four months for a hospice place after his GP failed to refer him – he finally got a place just three days before he died.
According to a report in the Telegraph, bullying in childhood is to blame for one million obese Britons.
A study by researchers at Kings College, London found that frequent bullying by peers increased the chance of being obese by the age of 45 by 50%.
Professor Louise Arseneault, who co-led the study, said that early intervention in cases of childhood bullying could ‘not only limit psychological distress but also reduce physical health problems in adulthood’.
Finally, the BBC has news that women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and who have a strong family history of the condition do not face a worse prognosis than women without the family link.
The British Journal of Surgery findings show that, although inherited genes increase the probability of developing breast cancer, they do not make it harder to treat successfully.
