Our round up of health news headlines on Thursday 4 August.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley's plans to push ahead with HealthWatch, the new body to champion patients' views in the NHS, have been attacked as ‘confusing, vague and insulting', The Guardian reports.
Mr Lansley is pushing HealthWatch, despite ministers being forced to apologise and withdraw a consultation on the new watchdog last week after admitting plans for the new watchdog had been drawn up ‘in haste'.
Next to a warty problem. Amid the financial pressures facing the NHS, The Guardian suggests the health service could save millions by switching from the cervical cancer vaccine currently used in England to the one used by the US and most of Europe.
Patients will be able to examine the records of individual GP practices and access data on what drugs they prescribe under Government plans for a ‘transparency revolution', The Independent reports.
Not great news for hospital doctors as the number of NHS trusts that believe they will run out of cash next year has almost doubled, reports The Independent. Meanwhile a Tory MP has described his local hospital as ‘chronically, institutionally, dysfunctionally crap' after it temporarily closed its A&E ward due to overcrowding, The Telegraph reports.
Last but not least, here's one for anyone reading the Daily Digest on their mobile. The Daily Mail covers a new Ofcom report that found that 60% of teenagers and more than a third of adults are ‘highly addicted' to using smart phones. The Mail said that the trend has led to Britain ‘losing its manners'.
