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PM on GP flu powers, ‘trebling’ of autism risk and bring back the ‘leaky boob’

By Laura Passi

Our roundup of health news headlines on Monday 10 January.

GPs could be stripped of flu vaccine ordering powers' The Daily Telegraph reports. The Prime Minister hinted to BBC Radio 5 that things may change when he said: ‘We need to look at the way we order vaccinations and whether more needs to be done.' At the moment GPs order flu vaccines but Cameron admitted that there are ‘some shortages in some places.'

However RCGP chair Dr Clare Gerada defended the system: ‘I can't for the life of me see how a national system could be more accurate.'

The risk of autism 'trebles' if you conceive with 12 months' of having given birth, reports the Daily Mail. A study which covered 600,000 Californian families formed the basis of these findings. The paper says this ‘adds to the growing evidence that closely spaced pregnancies can be harmful' but ‘British doctors urged women not to panic over the study and stressed that the chances of autism remained low for any baby.'

The Guardian reports a warning by leading dental expert, Professor Monty Duggal about children with tooth decay. He claims children with serious tooth decay are being ‘ignored or badly treated as a result of a system of "poor care" and "supervised neglect".'

Facebook has, according to The Independent, incurred the wrath of nursing mothers, again. They deleted the Facebook page ‘The Leaky B@@b', which offers support and advice to women who are breast feeding. ‘The move was the latest in a series of clashes between the website and breastfeeding mothers, particularly those who have posted photos of themselves nursing their child.' The page has since been reinstated along with support pages ‘TLB Support and Bring Back the Leaky Boob.'

After careful investigation, Daily Digest can confirm that the page in question is stil going strong with 12,317 members.

Daily digest