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Non-EU workers forced to have private healthcare, lower your blood pressure with beetroot, and the NHS ‘cost-cutting adviser’ on £1,000 a day

By Gareth Iacobucci

Our roundup of health news headlines on Tuesday 29 June.

Big news in the Mail this morning, which reports that non-EU immigrant workers will be forced to have private healthcare to prevent them placing further strain on the NHS.

The plan, which will have huge implications for GPs, was outlined as part of the Government's announcement that there will be a cap on the number of non-EU workers allowed into the UK.

The Telegraph reports that thousands of extra NHS workers funded by the SNP in Scotland have resulted in little increase in the number of procedures and operations being conducted, according to the findings of an official inquiry.

The Guardian carries a summary of BMA chair Dr Hamish Meldrum's opening speech at the ARM yesterday, covered here by Pulse, in which he called for foreign doctors working in the UK to be subject to the same regulation as British doctors.

It seems beetroot is useful for more than just additing colour to a side salad. BBC News reports on new research which shows the nitrate content of beetroot juice helps lower blood pressure, according to a study in the US journal Hypertension.

And The Mail gleefully sinks its teeth into NHS managers this morning, reporting that hospital chiefs have advertised for a 'cost-cutting' adviser at £1000 a day. The wonderfully titled 'turnaround director' will apparently earn twice as much as the PM to operate the scissors, or in managers' speak, to oversee 'efficiency and cost-saving measures'. I fear Richard Littlejohn's next column has just written itself...

Spotted something we've missed? Let us know and we'll update the digest throughout the day...

Daily Digest - 29 June 2010