You're 1 ahead of me Betreger, but then again we've only been approved for 5 shots so far here.

I'm booked in for my 6th tomorrow morning.

Those damn mozzies strike again.

Hundreds dead and thousands more sick after deadly virus outbreak in Peru.

Peru is experiencing the largest dengue outbreak in the country's history, a crisis that experts have linked to increased rainfall and warmer temperatures as the climate changes.

The South American nation has recorded more than 130,000 probable cases of dengue this year, according to its National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Control of Diseases.

At least 200 people have died after being infected with the virus, with another 39 fatalities under investigation.

Dengue fever is an Aedes aegypti mosquito-borne tropical disease that can provoke a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle, and joint pain, and sometimes death....

Consequences ongoing...

Is this too little too late?


Ministers set out plan to train and keep more NHS staff
wrote:

More doctors and nurses will be trained and thousands of new roles will be created to work alongside them, as part of a major NHS England workforce plan.

University places for medical students will double, a new apprenticeship scheme for doctors is planned and medical degrees could be shortened...

... Critics say poor working conditions in the NHS could undermine the plan.

There are more than 110,000 vacancies in the workforce at present, with one out of every 10 posts unfilled, which creates huge pressure on staff and affects the care patients receive.

The NHS has been beset by strikes this year, and the dispute with doctors is still continuing.

Pay for staff does not feature in the plan...

NHS staff sickness hits record high in England
wrote:

Staff sickness in the NHS in England has reached record levels.

Figures for 2022 show an absence rate - the proportion of days lost - of 5.6%, meaning the NHS lost the equivalent of nearly 75,000 staff to illness.

This is higher than during the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 - and a 29% rise on the 2019 rate.

Mental health problems were the most common cause, responsible for nearly a quarter of absences...

... The think tank warned the NHS was stuck in a "seemingly unsustainable cycle" of increased work and burnout, which was contributing to staff leaving...

NHS misses targets in England to tackle care backlogs
wrote:

Hospitals in England have failed to hit key targets to tackle the backlogs in cancer care and routine treatment.

Waiting times show too many patients were still facing long waits...

... Overall, there are now a record 7.3 million people on a hospital waiting list, which is nearly three million higher than it was before the pandemic started.

Ministers have warned it could be next spring before the numbers start falling...

There are continuing ongoing consequences...

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Ongoing, in more areas than only Wales:


Eye care: Wales faces tidal wave of blindness...
wrote:

Wales faces a "tidal wave of blindness" unless urgent improvements are made to the way specialist eye care is delivered, a leading doctor has said.

Latest figures show 75,000 people at greatest risk of losing their sight are waiting too long for treatment.

This number has almost doubled in just four years...

... "In truth we were barely coping when Covid came along and now we have no hope without innovative ideas and substantial investment in services infrastructure and new ways of working." He said it was "too late for sticking plaster solutions and throwing money at existing structures."...

... "They are really concerned and upset that they are literally losing their sight because of the delays," she said. "It's your eyesight we're talking about and once it's gone it's gone."...

... we continue to experience [staff] recruitment challenges...

How has all this come to pass?...

Too long neglected??...

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Meningococcal is on the loose again in N.S.W. and Queensland.

Aussies have been urged to lookout for symptoms of a deadly disease after a spike in cases and deaths.

....The disease, which causes a fever, headaches and sometimes a rash, is a rare but serious infection that can be fatal, with babies, toddlers, teenagers and young adults most at risk.

“While vaccination of these age groups has reduced the number of infections each year, the vaccines do not protect against all strains of meningococcal bacteria and people of all ages can be infected,” NSW Health said.

“All people should be aware of symptoms so they can act fast.”....

For a positive bit of health news for a change:


Chance discovery helps fight against malaria
wrote:

Scientists have found a naturally occurring strain of bacteria which can help stop the transmission of malaria from mosquitoes to humans.

They found it by chance, after a colony of mosquitoes in one experiment did not develop the malaria parasite.

The researchers say the bacteria could be a new tool for fighting one of the world's oldest diseases, which kills 600,000 people every year.

Trials assessing its safety in the real world are now taking place...

How do we explain to politicians and accountants the value of freedom to find 'random' results from the immensely valuable world of serendipity?...

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

How do we explain to politicians and accountants the value of freedom to find 'random' results from the immensely valuable world of serendipity?...

There are three things in every r&d endeavor.
1) What you want to do (will accomplish).
2) How long it will take.
3) How much it will cost.

You can only specify two, the third is unknowable.

An example, the Apollo project. What, go to moon and back. Time inside a decade. Cost, no factor.

Bean counters do understand this. Executives do not, they only know hand waving and screaming make it so before the next quarterly report so I get fat bonus check.

Ouch! All round for everyone:


We can't take any more, says NHS as doctors strike
wrote:

Junior doctors have started a four-day walkout, with health bosses warning the NHS cannot take any more disruption...

... It is the junior doctors' fifth strike in the pay dispute in England.

NHS Providers said services were at tipping point because covering the junior doctor strikes had cost an estimated £1bn, as well leading to thousands of postponed treatments...

... The £1bn cost has been accrued from lost productivity, preparing and planning for strikes and paying premium rates to consultants to provide cover.

Junior doctors, who make up nearly half the medical workforce, have been walking out of both emergency and planned care during their strikes...

... BMA leader Prof Philip Banfield said blaming doctors for the rising waiting list was a "deliberate case of obfuscation".

He said: "The government was presiding over this problem long before any industrial action - waiting lists were steadily getting worse for the decade leading up to the pandemic arriving.

"In fact, it is these waiting lists - and doctors being unable to do their jobs because of underinvestment, workforce shortages and rota gaps - that lie behind the strikes they're being forced to take now."

He urged the government to get back to the negotiating table and put forward a "credible offer".

Not good and that still sounds like there is a huge disconnect between our government and reality and pandering to private sector profits...

Stay healthy!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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This looks to be a big Ouch with deadly consequences:


Many cancer waiting time targets set to be dropped in England
wrote:

Two-thirds of NHS cancer waiting time targets are expected to be scrapped...

... NHS bosses want to reduce the number of targets, most of which have been routinely missed in recent years, from nine to three...

... the head of the Radiotherapy UK charity said she is "deeply worried". Pat Price, who is also an oncologist and visiting professor at Imperial College London, said current performance was "shockingly bad", and while too many targets could be disruptive, "the clear and simple truth is that we are not investing enough in cancer treatment capacity"...

... Three targets are set to be kept:

• diagnosis of cancer within 28 days of referral
  
• starting treatment within two months of an urgent referral
  
• starting treatment one month after a decision to treat.
  

Six other targets, such as a two-week wait for a first consultant appointment, will be dropped...

That's easy then for the Management massaging of the figures:

Ensure that no Consultant's appointments are available being as there is now no deadline and no measure to the first consultation. Hence noone will know. More patients (victims) will die. That helps remove the unfinanced load...

Simples.

I'm sure the arguments that it is all green and all for the good will be added into the PR-spin...


Patient care be damned!

Another one for our drunken lack-luster MPs?... (See "the House of Commons bar", and "Debate over closing UK parliament bars"...)


Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Too little too late and just an attempt at a quick-fix sop?...


£250m funding for more hospital beds in England this winter
wrote:

The government has announced £250m in funding to provide an extra 5,000 NHS hospital beds in England this winter.

Ministers say 900 new beds should be ready by January, with the remainder to follow...

... The increase will mean nearly 100,000 permanent beds on wards and in A&E, available at the busiest time of the year - a 5% rise on current levels.

NHS Providers said the extra capacity was needed "before winter begins".

Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said trusts would welcome the support but cautioned any new beds would need to be staffed.

She added that, since winter is the busiest time of the year for urgent and emergency care, trust leaders would be concerned that the promised extra capacity is only expected to be in place by January. "For the best results, trusts would need these new beds before winter begins," she said.

Pat Cullen, from the Royal College of Nursing, added: "The elephant in the room is who will staff these additional beds? Nursing staff are already spread too thinly over too many patients."...

... It comes after new data from NHS England revealed waiting lists had reached a record 7.6 million at the end of June...

... But certain longer-term issues have yet to be addressed, warned Ms Deakin from NHS Providers. "Underlying issues, including workforce shortages, a lack of investment in capital and the desperate need for social care reform will ultimately hinder progress unless also addressed,"...

... "Steps like this are promising, but the only way to recover urgent and emergency care - and to put the NHS on a sustainable footing - is for the government to tackle the longer-term challenges in health and care,"...

Is that small step in response to the increasing media attention?

And also a response to the increasingly parlous situation for staffing levels and the essential people being burnt out and leaving?


Our Government must do better?

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

There maybe hope yet to treat a rare cancerous tumor that usually kills young adults and children.

Scientists Find New Weapon Against Brain Tumor: 'Major Crack in the Armor'.

Scientists have discovered a new weapon against an incurable brain tumor found in children.

Researchers led by the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center and the Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center have found for the first time, how one drug may improve the survival rate for a type of childhood brain tumor. Their findings have been published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The tumor, known as diffuse midline gliomas (DMG), is a particularly aggressive form of cancer usually found in young adults or children. When this cancer also has a mutation called H3K27M, the treatment becomes even harder.

The average survival rate for a person with this type of tumor is 11 to 15 months. It is currently treated with radiation, but this is not an easy method as the tumors are located in a critical area of the brain. But now, researchers found that a drug called ONC201 nearly doubled the survival rate for those with the tumor, when compared to those who had not taken the drug.

ONC201 is an experimental drug that selectively kills cancer cells. Scientists already knew the drug could be effective in tackling this type of cancer, but the new study shows just how much it extends life expectancy, and also underlines what causes the drug's success. This means the drug could be a viable treatment method for this incurable cancer.....

If it's not 1 thing it's another. :-(

Parents urged to watch for scarlet fever symptoms as strep A cases surge in Queensland.

....Data from Queensland Health shows more than 350 invasive strep A cases have been recorded across the state in the year to date.

The figure is up almost 150 cases on the same time last year...

..Those most at risk are people over 65 or under five, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Indicators of invasive infections can include fever, a fast heart rate, cold hands and feet or a mottled look to the skin, and difficulty waking.

Symptoms to look out for in young children that may indicate severe illness include difficulty breathing, high-pitched crying, and refusal to eat or feed....

A promising vaccine trial is underway but it could be 2030 by the time it's approved.

(Needless?) Consequences:


A million patients hit by delays to cancer care in last 10 months
wrote:

Long waits in England for patients to see specialists, get diagnoses and start treatment

More than a million patients in England have experienced a delay in their cancer care since Rishi Sunak became prime minister 10 months ago, new NHS figures reveal.

Analysis by the House of Commons library of official waiting time performance data shows that huge numbers of people with suspected or confirmed cancer have not been able to see a specialist for the first time, get a diagnosis or start treatment within NHS target times since last October...

... An even larger number – 623,676 – either did not receive a diagnosis of cancer or were not told they were clear of the disease within 28 days after their referral during those months. That equates to three in 10 of all suspected cancer patients...

... most of the NHS’s existing nine cancer performance targets have not been met for years.

Earlier this week, the government and NHS England announced that they are scrapping those measures...

... All the charities urged the NHS and ministers to give hard-pressed cancer services more staff and more funding to help overcome delays that have become commonplace and warned that some people’s cancer could become too advanced to be treatable...

Leading to:


Private equity has its sights on the NHS – and with it our faith in public services altogether
wrote:

Almost 8 million people are waiting for hospital appointments in England. For some opaque investors, the crisis is a money-making opportunity...

... Germany’s experience ought to be a cautionary tale. The German healthcare system, which is often praised by rightwing thinktanks in Britain as a model to emulate, has seen numerous private equity deals in recent years. Firms have bought up more than 500 German ophthalmology practices and hundreds of dental practices. The results should be concerning to anyone who cares about public health. Eye doctors have described how they face pressure to make “as much money as possible” by selling patients additional services...

... Under the guise of reform, politicians have broken the NHS up into smaller pieces like Lego bricks, creating new opportunities for private providers to step in. The lines between “private” and “public”, “citizen” and “consumer”, have become so scrambled that it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins...

... Attempting to book a GP appointment recently, I was told to first download an app that nudged me towards a selection of private, paid-for tests.

An important consequence of all this is something that the philosopher Chiara Cordelli writes about: there is a risk that the less we see public institutions as the provider of the services we receive, the less we feel we can trust those services or institutions. And the more the government depends on for-profit firms to deliver these services, the more it becomes a hostage to those same firms...

... For patients, it’s a worrying indication that our politicians have little intention of arresting the decline of our public health service.

Stay healthily healthy?
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Desperate consequences:

Last time Britain was this sick, drastic action was taken. This time, politicians don’t seem to care
wrote:

The UK is the “sick man” of Europe again. On almost every health indicator – life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, obesity rates and healthcare capacity – we lag behind our peers. This week, ONS data reconfirmed the substantial impact this is having on our national prosperity. The number of people who cannot work primarily because of long-term illness reached yet another record, at nearly 2.6 million.

This backs up recent research by the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity (which I co-chair). By tracking people over time, it demonstrated how the onset of sickness had substantial consequences in the UK on economic participation, income, job satisfaction and productivity...

... This is not the first time the UK has lagged behind on health outcomes and faced the associated economic harm. During the 19th-century Industrial Revolution and the 20th-century postwar period, Britain faced health crises that, like today’s, also undermined labour supply, economic participation and growth.

In both cases, leaders implemented bold new public health strategies. In the 1800s, we took unprecedented public health action: cleaner drinking water, improved sewage disposal and new workplace protections. In the 1940s, we created the NHS. Each, at the time, was justified on both health and economic grounds.

These are among our greatest modern policy achievements, and we continue to benefit from them now...

[Yet today with increasing ill health...] ... Consequentially, that means a weaker labour market, less tax revenue, higher welfare and NHS spending, and the perpetuation of the UK’s low-growth, low-productivity status quo.

This fate can be avoided. Today, about four in 10 cancers, eight in 10 premature heart attacks and strokes and substantial proportions of depression and anxiety could be prevented. Others could be treated more effectively, or better managed...

... The crux is this: we simply do not value health sufficiently. Politicians and policymakers have not understood that investing in health is investing in the economy and instead, too often see illness as a drain. This incentivises a focus on limiting expenditure on healthcare today, rather than investment in long-term health...

All too true whilst our politicians are lost and isolated in their ivory towers...

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Continuing consequences:


‘Voters are unhappier with the NHS than they’ve been for 30 years. As a GP, I feel the same’
wrote:

Even those at the top admit the NHS can’t do what is being asked of it today. But it is far from unsalvageable – we just need serious politicians who will commit to funding it

... these two letters, left out for my urgent attention, illustrate some of the pressures on the health service today...

... But because of understaffing...

... Pressures on the service are now so extreme that urgent referrals are routinely downgraded, and life-threatening diagnoses are being missed...

... there is already insufficient time to get through the workload. I start to hurry; the chance of things being missed begins to rise...

... another example of an underfunded service that has failed to keep up with demand...

... the NHS is not working the way it was intended to...

... But political pressure to cut costs also cuts the time each doctor or nurse has with their patient – which is why I’m often grappling with three or four significant problems in the absurdly short space of a 10-minute appointment...

... To say that a functioning NHS is unaffordable is to admit to a startling lack of faith in civilised society...

... Don’t be fooled by the brochures and promises of private healthcare companies, whose profits are bolstered by a struggling NHS, which also helps them manage their failures. Private companies take their doctors from the same pool as the NHS, and so outsourcing NHS services to private companies just makes it harder for the NHS to recruit, and costs the taxpayer more...

... but I’m optimistic. The alternative is to admit to a lack of imagination and compassion. A health service free for all at the point of use, paid for by everybody, for everybody, is an expression of what’s best in our society. I hope you’ll agree it’s worth saving.

Is that something our politicians will read?

... And heed to be spurred into positive healthy action?


Stay healthy folks!!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

The Next Big Boner Treatment Might Come From Spider Venom

Brazilian scientists have developed an erectile dysfunction treatment derived from the venom of P. nigriventer, which is already being tested in human trials.

Ouch! All round for everyone:


We can't take any more, says NHS as doctors strike
wrote:

Junior doctors have started a four-day walkout, with health bosses warning the NHS cannot take any more disruption...

... "In fact, it is these waiting lists - and doctors being unable to do their jobs because of underinvestment, workforce shortages and rota gaps - that lie behind the strikes they're being forced to take now."

He urged the government to get back to the negotiating table and put forward a "credible offer".

Not good and that still sounds like there is a huge disconnect between our government and reality and pandering to private sector profits...

And the Consequences are ongoing, from long before the addition to the pre-existing overload of the extra care needed with the covid pandemic. Too many good doctors are being pushed over the brink:


GP burnout: 'I was left feeling like a husk of a human'
wrote:

The number of doctors seeking help for mental health issues has risen by more than three-quarters within two years ... For one GP, the relentless stress of the job led to him taking three months off work with burnout...

Who cares for our carers?...


Stay healthy!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Continued Consequences:


Covid deaths are on the rise again, so what happens? Mask-wearing in hospitals is scrapped
wrote:

The only masking that’s going on is that of the government’s continued failure to get to grips with the virus

For some people, going to hospital may now be more dangerous than staying at home untreated...

... Of course, there have always been dangers where sick people gather. But, until now, health services have sought to minimise them. Astonishingly, this is often no longer the case.

Across the UK, over the past two years, the NHS has been standing down even the most basic precautions against Covid-19...

... The story this policy tells, which the government would have us believe, is that Covid-19 is all but over. It’s not true. Despite a collapse in testing, which means the figures will be grossly understated, the number of death certificates giving Covid-19 as a cause has been climbing steadily as autumn approaches, rising from 80 per week in early August to 306 in late September. Who knows what the real number may be?

Forget it, be happy, keep shopping...

... Masks work, especially if they’re N95 respirators or equivalent. They work best when everyone uses them, and are kept on throughout the time we spend in an enclosed space. This is because the aerosols that carry the virus can keep circulating in a room, long after they’ve been exhaled...

... We know how to minimise infection: ventilation, air filtration and germicidal ultraviolet light in indoor public spaces...

... Covid-19 is now a constantly evolving endemic infection likely to kill or disable many thousands every winter...

We have the low cost tech to save people and to save the NHS...

So... Why not??...


Stay healthy folks!!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)