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New fears over patient records, pregnancy could reduce breast cancer risk, and why women’s health gripes put man flu in the shade

By Gareth Iacobucci

Our roundup of the news headlines on Friday 26 March.

The Summary Care Record is covered in the Mail today, who reveal that as many as 140,000 non-medical staff, including NHS porters and cleaners have access to sensitive patient files. The investigation comes after a Freedom of Information request by privacy campaign group, Big Brother Watch.

Also in the Mail, we hear of new research which claims that up to a third of breast cancer cases could be avoided if women ate less and exercised more.

The Times also focuses on breast cancer this morning, with the headline: 'Pregnancy 'reduces breast cancer risks'.'The paper reports on new research presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona, which suggests that women who have been treated for breast cancer can have babies without increasing their risk of dying from their cancer.

The coverage of ‘legal high' drug Mephedrone, or, ‘Meow Meow' as its colloquially known, slows no sign of slowing down, as the moral panic in the tabloids reaches Brass Eye levels of foaming.

The Sun, to their credit, manage to find an angle which aligns with their new found contempt for all things Red, by claiming that a Labour MP's son is allegedly a Meow meow drug baron.

The Guardian choose to sidestep the sensationalism, and instead focus on advice from the Government's former drugs advisor Professor David Nutt, who says allowing the use of Mephedrone under controlled conditions would be safer than driving it underground.

Also in the Guardian, we hear how a whistleblower at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital told a local newspaper how A&E patients were held in hospital corridors.

The Telegraph reports that the number of managers in the NHS has risen at double the rate of doctors and nurses under Labour, according to new figures from the Information Centre.

And the Mail's quest to define the sexes by their reaction to common illness continues apace. It was man flu the other day, but now, we learn that it is actually women who complain more about their health - and without justification, according to an 'official analysis'.

Daily Digest