Pounds gained for lbs lost: Overweight people could be paid to lose weight

The UK obesity crisis has reached such epic proportions – one in 4 Brits are now classified as obese – that the NHS are now throwing their weight behind a plan to reward people who successfully lose weight.

Under proposed new plans, employers will be encouraged to offer incentives to employees who manage to shed the pounds, such as cash or shopping vouchers. The scheme will be aimed at relieving the huge financial strain on the NHS through the care for overweight or obese patients, and related health complications.

New ways to try and tackle the growing problem of obesity comprise of just a few methods proposed in a “radical” overhaul of the country’s healthcare system proposed by the NHS for the next parliament. Tax cuts for volunteers and “breaking down the boundaries” between GPs and hospitals have also been discussed in the report by NHS England.

However, it is not just work employees that are being encouraged to watch their waistlines, with NHS staff being urged to “set a national example” by adhering to healthier lifestyles. There are plans to prevent access to unhealthy food on NHS sites and monitor the health and wellbeing of NHS staff.
The report also states that local authorities should be stricter on fast-food and alcohol outlets to improve the overall health of their community.

“Put bluntly, as the nation’s waistline keeps piling on the pounds, we’re piling on billions of pounds in future taxes just to pay for preventable illnesses,” the report says.

 There could be a “severe consequences” for patients if the healthcare system is not revamped and improved according to officials, who are also pleading with an increase in funding from the next government.

However, top doctor Clive Peedell said: “This policy will do nothing to help the millions of unemployed and the growing numbers of self-employed people who may need help but won’t qualify.”

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens commented: “We have no choice but to do this. If we do it a better NHS is possible, if we don’t the consequences for patients will be severe.”

Sir Bruce Keogh, national medical director of NHS England, said the NHS remains “one of the best healthcare systems in the world”, but stressed: “We’ve squeezed the orange really hard over the last four years. People working in the NHS are really beginning to feel the pressure.”

Mr Stevens added that he believed a tax-payer funded health system has resulted in a “blind spot” with regards to the healthcare of employees, and that despite success in other countries abroad, workplace schemes to encourage workers to lose weight have been relatively ignored in this country.
He said: “The principal point is that employers in many countries have developed voluntary schemes for their employees whereby for example you actually get cash back based on participation in Weight Watchers or other type schemes.”

When quizzed as to what kind of rewards may be on offer, he said: “It could be shopping vouchers, it could be cash, it could be prizes”, adding that the rewards could be higher or lower for the person depending on how much weight had been shed.

The NHS are considering “challenging” companies to introduce the schemes instead of offering them money.

According to Mr Stevens obesity is “getting worse in some respects” highlighted childhood obesity as “a significant future health threat”.

He said: “When your son or daughter starts primary school one in 10 children are obese. By the time they reach Year 6 that’s doubled to one in five so something is going wrong with the way in which we are keeping our children healthy and setting them up for a good start in life.”

England’s drinking problem causing more liver disease deaths

The country’s increasingly problematic drinking culture has been attributed to a shocking rise in the number of deaths from liver disease, health experts have warned.

The first regional study into liver disease showed a staggering 40% increase in the number of deaths from the preventable disease – and men are twice as likely as women to be diagnosed with it.

Professor Julia Verne, who led the new research for Public Health England (PHE) blames 24-hour drinking and more alcohol consumption for the “rapid and shocking” rise in death rates from liver disease.

The study demonstrated a huge north-south divide, with more than four times as many male adults dying from liver disease in Blackpool (58.4 per 100,000) than in central Bedfordshire (just 13 per 100,000).

The north generally seems to have more of a drinking issue compared to their southern counterparts. In Northumberland, Lancashire and Leeds, liver disease from alcohol consumption is responsible for 11 deaths in every 100,000 people under the age of 75, whilst in Hampshire and Surrey, the figure stands at just six in every 100,000.

Death from liver disease is now understandably being described as a growing epidemic, being the fifth “big killer” across England and Wales, after heart disease, cancer, strokes and respiratory disease.

During 2001 to 2012, the number of people dying from liver disease in England has risen from 7,841 to 10,948 – an increase of 40%.

The majority of liver disease cases are directly related to three main risk factors: alcohol, obesity and viral hepatitis, whilst 5% of cases are due to autoimmune disorders – i.e. where there is abnormal functioning of the immune system.

“Liver disease is a public health priority because young lives are being needlessly lost,” commented Prof Verne. “All the preventable causes are on the rise, but alcohol accounts for 37% of liver disease deaths. We must do more to raise awareness, nationally and locally, and this is why it is so important for the public and health professionals to understand their local picture.”

Emily Robinson, deputy chief executive of Alcohol Concern said: “It’s a tragedy that we’re actually seeing cases of young people in their 20s dying of alcoholic liver disease, when this can be prevented. The so called ‘alcopops generation’ have grown up in a society where alcohol is available at almost anytime, anywhere, at incredibly cheap prices and promoted non-stop.

“The government needs to make tackling the rise in liver disease an urgent priority and action must include introducing a minimum unit pricing for alcohol, a policy that promises to save hundreds of lives and reduce thousands of hospital admissions each year.”

If you believe you have an alcohol dependency problem and are drinking too much, Medical Specialists® Pharmacy can help before it is too late.

Medical Specialists® can provide alcohol dependency treatment Selincro for suitable patients – those who are heavy drinkers, but don’t require immediate detoxification, and whom have a high level of alcohol consumption 2 weeks after the first consultation with their doctor. This is defined as more than 60g of alcohol per day for men or more than 40g of alcohol per day for women. The great news for those who are prescribed it is that there is no risk of becoming dependent on Selincro.

Viagra found to offer boost for heart disease patients

More commonly known for its prowess in the bedroom, male impotence drug Viagra should also be routinely prescribed as a safe treatment for heart disease according to the researchers involved in a new study.

A team of scientists from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy, analysed 24 studies comprising of 1,622 men, and published the findings in the journal BMC Medicine.

The found that sildenafil – the active ingredient in Viagra – boosted the performance of the heart in patients with various heart conditions, whilst having no detrimental impact on blood pressure.

Sildenafil is known as a Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE5i), which works to block the enzyme PDE5, was found to prevent the heart enlarging and changing shape in those patients with ventricular hypertrophy. This condition causes thickening of muscles in the left ventricle and can lead to heart failure.
Lead researcher of the study, Andrea Isidori, now wants the drug to be used in clinical trials consisting of women that have heart disease, arguing that Viagra should be prescribed for heart conditions if more trials correlate with his findings.

He said: “We found that the main ingredient in Viagra can be used as an effective, safe treatment for several patients with heart disease. Large clinical trials are now urgently needed to build on these encouraging findings.”

Maureen Talbot, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Often in medicine, drugs which are used to treat one ailment can have side effects that make it an effective treatment for other conditions.

“Viagra is already a prime example of this. But this study suggests it has the potential to be put to another use – treating early stage heart failure and cardiac hypertrophy.

“But we shouldn’t get too excited too quickly. Large randomised controlled trials are needed on both men and women to support this study’s findings before it could be recommended to heart patients.”
Sildenafil is already marketed under the name Revatio for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension, and the benefits of Viagra for heart disease patients should perhaps not come as a huge surprise.

Sildenafil was originally developed as an option for the treatment hypertension and angina pectoris, and the ability to induce erections was noted later. Because of the latter finding, Viagra’s manufacturer Pfizer subsequently decided to market Viagra for treating erectile dysfunction instead of angina. The rest as they say, is history!

Medical Specialists® Pharmacy now provide alcohol dependency treatment Selincro

Medical Specialists® Pharmacy are now able to actually help those with alcohol addiction through the treatment Selincro (nalmefene). This medication is suited for people who are heavy drinkers, but don’t require immediate detoxification, and whom have a high level of alcohol consumption 2 weeks after the first consultation with their doctor. This is defined as more than 60g of alcohol per day for men or more than 40g of alcohol per day for women. The great news for those who are prescribed it is that there is no risk of becoming dependent on Selincro.

Selincro’s active ingredient nalmefene works by latching onto certain opioid receptors in the brain that are responsible for addictive behaviour, altering their activity, thereby decreasing the urge to continue drinking.

According to a 2007 ‘state of the nation’ survey carried out by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, there are an estimated 1.6 million people in England alone that are dependent on alcohol, and it is a casual factor in over 60 medical conditions, such as cancers of the mouth, throat, stomach, liver and breast, high blood pressure, depression and cirrhosis of the liver.

The abuse of alcohol is said to cost the country a shocking £21 billion annually through the treatment of alcohol-related disease, the resulting crime that follows a bingeing episode of drinking, and loss of work productivity (about 8 to 14 million working days are lost each year in the UK because of alcohol).

The first two impacts of alcohol abuse are probably quite obvious to some, but the impact on alcohol to the workplace can often be dramatically underestimated – and it is a serious problem that many employers are having to tackle as alcohol dependency does not discriminate according to occupation.
Firstly, let’s look at the repercussions of alcohol in the workplace. Through either sustained alcohol dependency, or from isolated occurrences of heavy drinking, the main issues relating to the workplace are: Loss of production, absenteeism and extra sick leave, injuries and accident rates, and the risk of premature death or fatal accidents.

Alcohol can and will impair an employee’s decision making at work, slowing down reaction times, potentially inducing sleepiness and drowsiness, increase the risk of errors occurring and lead to the employee delivering goods or services to a substandard quality. It may even cause friction and anger amongst those employees that have to carry the burden of compensating for those whose work output is declining due to drinking.

It is usually primarily the after-effects of drinking – being hungover – that impacts the ability to perform a job correctly, or even turning up to work at all. In fact, a 2006 survey conducted by YouGov for PruHealth discovered that there are an estimated 200,000 workers in Britain coming into work hungover from the previous night’s drinking.

Some alarming finds were made in the survey: 22% admit they have made errors at work as a consequence of their hangover, 83% admit their hangovers change the way they perform their role, a third even admit to ‘drifting off’, whilst 28% say they have to work with headaches because of their hangover.

It is generally believed that the common working factors linked to increased alcohol consumption include feeling stressed at work, periods of inactivity or feeling bored, low job satisfaction, shift or night work, working remotely, having to travel long distances, and frequenting business meals where there is a likelihood to be alcohol available. A recent article published on the Daily Mail also describes that the increase of women into working lives could be linked to a rise in drinking levels.
Employers should be able to spot if an employee has a drinking problem through a number of common traits.

Signs for employers to be aware of

. The employee’s job performance declines.
. Frequent absenteeism due to sickness.
. Frequent lateness to work or late to arrive at meetings.
. Frequent toilet visits.
. Attempts to mask the smell of alcohol with chewing gum, mints, breath sprays, or applying lots of aftershave/perfume and deodorant.
. The employee is absent from their desk for large periods of time.
. Suspect stories emanating from colleagues trying to cover for each other.

What can employers do?

First and foremost, employers should remember they have a general duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees whilst at work. Employers can be prosecuted for knowingly allowing an employee to work that is under the influence of excess alcohol.

A clear substance use (i.e. alcohol and drug) policy should be in place for all employees and employers should quiz their staff on what they know about the impact that alcohol has on health and safety, and their thoughts about drinking during working hours. All supervisors and managers should be trained to spot the signs of both alcohol and drug use and be aware of what actions to take if an employee confides about a problem or they suspect an employee might have a problem.

If the employee was a vital and valued member of the team before their alcohol dependency issues began, the employer might be wise to consider offering help and support where possible. After all, that employee will be incredibly grateful for this and probably show a greater sense of loyalty and commitment to the organisation, a huge benefit to the employer of course.

What can employees do?

Employees with alcohol dependency problems should have easy access to occupational health services, but under no circumstances should employees go into work whilst still under the influence of alcohol (or drugs for that matter).

Any employee with alcohol dependency issues should be open and honest with their employer to discuss what can be done to help the situation, and feel comfortable in speaking about it to their GP, or even any local pharmacy if that is preferred.

Unfortunately, alcohol dependency is a disease that affects all aspects of life, not just in workplace. It has a major impact on life at home too, being incredibly stressful for friends and family of the person drinking. It is a disease than can be beat however, with help and support usually available from employers to their employees – if there is complete honesty from the employee of course, and obviously support coming from loved ones of that person.

Exploding e-cigarettes putting lives at risk

The safety of electronic cigarettes has been plunged into further doubt after an electronic cigarette user almost had his legs blown off due to one of the devices ‘exploding like a grenade’.

Medics that initially treated 48-year-old David Aspinall from Wigan, thought he had been the unfortunate victim of a gun attack when they first saw his gruesome, serve injuries.

Mr Aspinall’s life was almost destroyed by the exploding e-cigarette as his home quickly set ablaze and he then had to spend 9 days in hospital recovering from the traumatic ordeal.

He was in the middle of using the device when it overheated and exploded, resulting in shards of metal ripping into his limbs and his home being set on fire.

Speaking to The Sun, Mr Aspinall, who now faces up to three years of skin grafts to recover, said: “It glowed and burned in my hand. I dropped it and it exploded. There was lots of blood, a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other. It could have blown my head off. The surgeon said it was like someone had used a gun.”

Even though ex-decorator Mr Aspinall had suffering shocking injuries and lost a litre of blood in the process, he managed to reach his neighbour, who likened the scene to that in a horror film.

Mr Aspinall has now reverted to conventional cigarettes, arguing – maybe questionably – that they are the safer option: He added: “I’m back on ciggies. It’s safest”, and is now proceeding to sue the maker of the Mutant Clone e-cigarette for compensation. The shop who sold him the device has blamed faulty batteries for the disaster.

This is not the first time an electronic cigarette has exploded however, and questions will now be raised about the safety of them.

. In August of this year, David Thomson, 62, died at home in Wallasey, Merseyside, after an e-cigarette he had left to charge then exploded and ignited oxygen equipment in the same room.

. In April of this year, pensioner Jen Booth was on a ward at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, when an e-cigarette ignited her oxygen supply and engulfed her in flames. The 65-year-old suffered serious burns.

. In the same month Jen Booth suffered burns, a woman in Barking, East London required hospital treatment due to smoke inhalation and shock after her flat was set alight – all because of an e-cigarette being used with an incompatible charger.

. Also in April, CCTV managed to capture the moment an e-cigarette exploded into flames at the Buck Inn Hotel in Richmond, South-West London. Pub worker Laura Baty, 18, was fortunate to escape severe injury.

It is perhaps for these reasons for many are calling for much tighter regulations on the sale of e-cigarettes. With Stoptober still having almost a fortnight to run, it could be wise for smokers to try and quit smoking for good with smoking cessation treatment, such as Pfizer’s Champix. This can mimic the effect of nicotine on the body, reduce the urge to smoke, and even lessen the enjoyment of cigarettes if you do give-in to willpower and smoke whilst on the treatment. It is available today from Medical Specialists® Pharmacy from the drastically lowered price of as little as £27.48* per pack
(*based on a private prescription price).

Healthier younger adults linked to drop in smoking levels

As we reach the tenth day of the annual Stoptober Challenge, smokers across Britain should be encouraged to learn that the proportion of adults that are smoking in the UK has dropped to its smallest percentage since records began in the 1940s.

Figures published this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that amongst the over-18s, smoking prevalence stood at 18.7% in 2013 – down from the rate of 19.8% in 2012.
The decline was revealed by the Integrated Household Survey run by ONS, a survey that quizzed almost 270,000 people over the age of 18 about their smoking habits.

The other large-scale survey to monitor smoking – the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey – demonstrated a smoking prevalence of 20% in 2012, and is widely expected to confirm the drop below one in five when its latest set of figures are released in November.

The 18.7% smoking rate shows ministers could be on course for hitting their target of bringing down the percentage of smokers to 18.5% by 2015 – if more people continue to quit.

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said: “It is very welcome that the number of smokers is at its lowest level as this means many more people will not die prematurely. However we want to help more people to quit as smoking is still a huge killer, taking nearly 80,000 lives a year. We know the idea of giving up smoking can be daunting but by using a local stop smoking service smokers are four times more likely to succeed.”

Much of the drop has been pinpointed to an ever-increasing number of younger adults that are quickly wising up to the massive damage that smoking can do, and turning against tobacco. The younger generation are generally more clean-living than their ancestors, something many believed could be linked the rise of social media, meaning there is a better chance youngsters are in their bedrooms on Facebook instead of hanging around street corners or in bars.

The ONS survey did find however that around 21.1% of men are smoking, compared to just 16.5% of women. A third of the population have successfully quit smoking, whilst half say they have never smoked.

The proportion of the population lighting up has drastically decreased though since the 1940s, then tobacco industry statistics showed almost two thirds of men were smokers. When the ONS began records of their own in 1974, 45% of Brits were smokers – 52% of men and 41% of women.
By 2006, the numbers had slashed in half, but stayed at around the 20% level through the years of the recent recession, despite the introduction of the 2007 smoking ban.

The new figures released this week were obviously met with delight by ministers and the charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), who said the findings should allay fears that increasing use of electronic cigarettes would result in more people turning to regular smoking.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Ash, said: “This statistically significant decline in adult smokers shows that the government’s tobacco control plan is working. However, over 80,000 people still die from smoking every year in England and every week hundreds of children take up smoking.

“Tough new measures to regulate tobacco, like plain standardised packaging, are needed if we are to drive down smoking still further. We urge the government to waste no time in allowing parliament to vote on the regulations which will finally get rid of glitzy, glamorous cigarette packs forever,” Arnott said.

“The drop in smoking also shows that concerns that the use of electronic cigarettes would lead to a renormalisation of tobacco use appear unfounded. The rapid increase in use of these products has coincided with a consistent steady decline in smoking.”

Fraudster given stiff prison sentence for selling fake male impotence drugs

A notorious serial conman involved in the selling of fake and dangerous viagra knock-offs has found out the hard way that crime doesn’t pay after being jailed for 10 years.

Fraudster Martin Hickman, 54, of Lily Lanes, Ashton-under-Lyne, flogged counterfeit viagra, slimming pills, and other dangerous drugs via the internet, duping unsuspecting customers into parting with their cash for cheap, dangerous products sourced from India.

His illegal dealings had led to Hickman enjoying a lavish lifestyle being able to afford several luxury apartments, a huge detached four-bedroom farmhouse, property in Marbella, and dove a Range Rover and a Bentley.

Investigators from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) found his business also sold sex toys and products claiming to boost penis size, and officers subsequently swooped onto his farmhouse in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.

They discovered Hickman had money stored in bank accounts in Malta, the Cayman Islands and the Isle of Man, transferring money through each of his accounts in addition to a local bank in the UK in an attempt to launder it.

Despite being under the MHRA’s radar, Hickman ignored this and carried on running the website, MSH World Traders. He even moved his offices and took on more staff.

Then in May 2007, Hickman received a three month prison sentence and hit with a £20,000 fine for breaching a High Court order that had ordered him to immediately stop selling drugs, including the counterfeit viagra, and shutdown the website.

Unfortunately, this warning did not deter the greedy crook and a newspaper later uncovered evidence that his enterprise MSH World Traders was still active and raking in the money, despite the fact Hickman was locked up.

Then in 2009, further investigations into his business dealings brought him back to the courts, where he admitted his guilt to five counts of money laundering and supplying fake and unlicensed drugs. He was again jailed, but this time for two years.

A proceeds of crime hearing was conducted at Southwark Crown Court in April 2012 and found Hickman had raked in over £15.4 million from his illicit dealings. Therefore, the court demanded he pay back £14.4 million within six months, or be jailed for ten years.

However, the conman fled to Spain whilst still owing £13.9 million and a European Arrest warrant was issued for his arrest in March of this year after numerous tipoffs to his whereabouts, including one letter sent to a newspaper that claimed Hickman was “living it up in Marbella nightclubs and bordellos non-stop” with “British taxpayers’ money”.

He was finally arrested in Spain in July, extradited back to the UK in August and must now face the prospect of the next decade of his life behind bars, whilst the massive debt must still be paid.

Nick Price, Head of Crown Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime said: “Martin Hickman’s crimes were unscrupulous and greedy, putting people’s health at risk for the sake of pure profit. Having failed to pay his debt, he has now begun a ten year sentence behind bars.

“Mr Hickman’s arrest, extradition from Spain and subsequent imprisonment back in the UK should send out a clear message to criminals seeking to hide themselves and their assets abroad: if you won’t pay up, we will find you and you will go to jail.

“We would like to thank Titan, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit and International law enforcement colleagues for their tireless work on this case.”

Medical Specialists® NHS Pharmacy inundated with orders as schools can now legally hold asthma inhalers in the first aid box

After almost four years of campaigning, the law is finally changing to keep children who suffer with asthma safe at school.

As of the 1st of October 2014, schools will be allowed to keep a salbutamol asthma inhaler in the first aid box for use in emergencies when a child with asthma cannot access their own inhaler.

Asthma is the most common chronic condition, affecting one in eleven children. On average, there are two children with asthma in every classroom in the UK. If they are able to manage their asthma themselves they should keep their inhaler on them, and if not, it should be easily accessible to them.

However, an Asthma UK survey found that 86% of children with asthma have at some time been without an inhaler at school having forgotten, lost or broken it, or the inhaler having run out.

Before October 2014 it was illegal for schools to hold emergency salbutamol inhalers for the use of pupils whose own inhaler was not available. Tragically, children have died from asthma attacks in school and parents are being warned about an increase in the number of children admitted to hospital after they go back to school in September.

The charity Asthma UK say the ‘September Spike’ happens each year in the first two to three weeks of the autumn term and is attributed to poor asthma care over the summer holidays, with a more relaxed approach to medicine use over this period.

Schools will ensure staff have appropriate training and support, relevant to their level of responsibility.  All staff will be:

• trained to recognise the symptoms of an asthma attack, and ideally, how to distinguish them from other conditions with similar symptoms;
• aware of the asthma policy;
• aware of how to access the inhaler;

• aware of who the designated members of staff are, and the policy on how to access their help.
As part of the asthma policy, the school will have agreed arrangements in place for all members of staff to summon the assistance of a designated member of staff, to help administer an emergency inhaler, as well as for collecting the emergency inhaler and spacer.

Medical Specialists® NHS Pharmacy have been inundated with phone calls from school staff regarding the new law on holding inhalers on the premises and the procedures on how to obtain them. The Pharmacists at Medical Specialists® have expertise knowledge on the condition of asthma and its medication, and have been able reassure and help with all the schools enquiries.

Medical Specialists® are here to offer online consultations for asthma treatments as well as a range of other medications such as embarrassing conditions. For people who want to know more about our products and services please visit www.medical-specialists.co.uk