Scottish Hep C
patients sold short
Scottish Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm has defended the decision
not to compensate 500 patients infected with hepatitis C through
contaminated blood products in the 1980s. The Scottish Executive
Health Committee and an independent expert group had recommended
that each patient infected should receive £50,000 compensation.
DoH promises to involve patients
The Department of Health’s independent group aimed at involving
patients and the public in the NHS has presented its final report
after 18 months of consultation. The move comes as the new Health
and Social Care Act comes into force this January, making a duty
to consult a legal requirement. The Transition Advisory Board
report is available at: www.doh.gov.uk/involvingpatients
until 31 March and government regulations on Patients Forums are
expected this month. For more details, see feature ‘Service
as Usual’ and leader.
Shaken not stirred but unsafe
James Bond’s 40 year career in the Secret Service incorporating
a stream of seamless sexual seductions not only defies reality but
also safety in this hepatitis C and HIV ridden world, according
to a columnist in The Times. Dr Tomas Stuttaford suggests that 007
may not be such a safe lover after all and points to a recent study
which found that almost 40 per cent of people in Britain who found
a new partner in the past 12 months had unprotected sex.
Blacks urged to accept gay men
THT has launched a campaign aimed at tackling homophobia within
black communities in Britain. They say that it is difficult to get
black men to be open about their sexuality or accept that they may
be at risk of catching sexually-transmitted infections and HIV.
THT’s Simon Nelson added: “There’s a problem in
the UK of health promotion campaigns failing to recognise that black
or African men have sex with other men.”
HIV figures up across Ulster |
A conference held in Newcastle,
County Down, before Christmas heard that new cases of HIV in both
Northern Ireland and Eire have risen. In the Irish Republic 2,802
people now have HIV and |
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