Month: August 2017

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been criticised for sending marketing letters to terminally ill patients advertising private clinical services.

The Trust reportedly used patients’ medical data to send hundreds of marketing leaflets advertising a private clinic, Nova Healthcare.
Read More “NHS Trust sent letters to terminally ill patients advertising private clinics”

Generic drugs and branded drugs – are the generic versions just as good as the branded ones?

Bloomberg recently reported that consumers are apparently unaware of the dangers of generic drugs that can actually cause harm to you. Generic drugs were introduced in the market as copies of brand-name drugs. They’re supposed to have the exact same dosage, intended use, effects, side-effects, method of use, risks, safety and strength as the branded drug; i.e. the same intended pharmacological effects as branded drugs.

But experts fear generic drugs are more dangerous than most people think…
Read More “Generic vs branded drugs: is there a difference?”

There’s a false perception that drug misuse comes from taking illegal highs. Reportedly, there is also a growing problem with prescription drugs that first swept the U.S., and is now possibly making its way to the U.K.

The extent of the problem is not yet known over here as there doesn’t seem to be enough data. In one example, prescriptions for opiate-based painkiller Tramadol has apparently doubled in the past decade to 24 million prescriptions annually.

So, what are we seeing here? A pandemic of overusing prescription drugs? Growing addictions to prescription drugs? Should we be worried, and what can be done?
Read More “The reported rise in U.K. prescription drugs use”

Statins are a group of drugs commonly used to combat cholesterol levels. Here in the U.K., cardiovascular disease (CVD), otherwise known as ‘heart disease’, is a common cause of death. There are several types of CVD including coronary heart disease, angina and heart attacks. All can occur due to blood flow being restricted from getting to the heart.

Statins help to lower cholesterol, and as with any drug, it comes with its own side-effects including upset stomach; headaches; nausea; muscle aches and pains; and pins and needles. However, researchers suggested that side-effects from statins may not be real. As such, their theory was put to the test…
Read More “Statins side-effects – Researchers run tests to see if they’re real or not!”

Back in February 2017, reports revealed that hundreds upon thousands of medical correspondences never made it to healthcare providers. The contractor hired by the NHS to send medical information between health institutions and providers reportedly lost around 709,000 pieces of data.

Truly staggering…

The information included patient medical records and test results. At the time the atrocity was revealed, it was suspected that 500 patients may have been harmed as a result of missing key medical information. Now, the number is over 1,700.
Read More “Potential risk of harm to hundreds of NHS patients because of undelivered medical mail”