869 FOCUS

South Woodham Focus
19
IN THE NEWS: The European Heart Journal reports that teenagers who
both smoke and drink suffer ill effects by age of 17. There is, for example,
evidenced of stiffening of the arteries (something that usually takes
place later in life and is associated with conditions such as high blood
pressure, heart attacks and strokes ... which, in some cases, can leave you
in a wheelchair and incapable of speech.)
The fact that damage to the heart and blood vessels starts to occur early
has been known for years. For example, it was shown in the Korean
Soldiers Study (which was begun in 1951.) They looked at young
American soldiers (mean age: 22.1 years) killed in the conflict.
Here are the findings: "In 77.3% of the hearts, some evidence of
atherosclerosis was discovered. For 35% of the cases, the disease was
limited to “fibrous thickening or streaking causing insignificant luminal
narrowing.” For 13.3% of the population, plaques had narrowed the
lumina by 10%. For 5.3% of the population, the lumina had narrowed by
90%." The lumen, (pleural = lumina) by the way, is the hole in the middle
of the blood vessel that the blood has to pass through ... so if this is
narrow, less and less blood can get to the heart muscle and it's ever more
likely that it will clot and cut the supply off ... thereby causing a 'heart
attack.' The message to the young is, therefore, that it's never too soon
to start looking after your health.
"What do colour blind people do when they are told to eat their
greens?" - Flo and Joan
AND ... Joe Watts writes in the Independent that "Shops will be banned
from selling Red Bull and other drinks “packed to the brim with caffeine”
to teenagers, under plans announced by Theresa May. The scheme will
see retailers blocked from selling energy drinks to under 16s and possibly
even under 18s. Insiders told The Independent the intention is to use the
same sanctions as selling cigarettes to children – meaning shops could
be slapped with fines of £2,500. Ms May said she was acting as evidence
shows excessive consumption of the drinks by children is linked to serious
health problems. Some deaths are even connected to them. The move
was welcomed by campaigners including Jamie Oliver, but there will be
a backlash from manufacturers and even some ministers who see it as
“nanny-statism”.
Apart from the damaging physical effects, the worrying thing about
reliance on these drinks by the young is that it encourages a state of
mind whereby they genuinely feel they need pharmaceutical help to
get through the day. This attitude tends to stick - so by the age of 30
many of these people will be taking a bucket-full of medication every
day (most of which will be unnecessary.) That is most definitely NOT good
for your health.
FOCUS ON HEALTH
GENERAL PRACTICE UNDER THREAT. GP newspaper reports that "More
than 1,000 GPs and patients have written to health and social care
secretary Matt Hancock in just 10 days as part of a campaign to highlight
the crisis facing general practice."
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is behind the scheme.
The letter states: "As plans are drawn up to spend the additional money
committed to the NHS by the prime minister, the vital importance of
general practice to the NHS must be recognised. That is why I’m backing
the RCGP’s calls for £2.5bn extra a year to be invested in general practice
services by 2020/21, bringing investment up to £14.5bn a year."
Underfunding is threatening the continued existence of general practice
as we know it - and SWF is more underfunded than most other areas.
Those patients who take an interest in these matters are calling for NHS
England to "GIVE US BACK OUR £500,000" (That being a guesstimate of
how much has been taken out of the SWF healthcare budget each year
due to the comparatively recent closure of two practices and cuts to
practice budgets.) Watch for developments.
"I took out a loan to pay for an exorcism. If I don't pay it back, I'm going
to get repossessed" - Olaf Falafel
NEEDLESS DEATHS. Every week patients die because of a lack of body
parts. A bit of them goes wrong and sooner or later it starts to give up
the ghost. At this stage the gift of a new liver or kidney ... or a new heart
and/or lungs .. gives them a new lease of life.
This week the BBC reports a major shortage of people willing to donate
their lungs and tells us that NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has said
that "the challenge of matching lungs of the right size and a rising
number of ageing donors are possible factors. It called on people to talk
about organ donation, because lung transplants are the only hope for
those on the list. The overall waiting list for organs has come down over
the same period."
Those who saw Simon Pegg in Burke & Hare on TV will know that the
shortage of bodies and body parts isn't new. In 'the bad old days' the
legitimate supply of bodies (from sources such as hangings) hich could be
used for teaching anatomy to aspiring doctors was inadequate.
Entrepreneurs therefore started digging up 'fresh' bodies ... and B & H
even turned their hand to murder in order to keep up with demand.
From time to time we hear talk of an 'opt out' system for organ donation
... whereby instead of giving permission it will be assumed that you have
agreed unless you have filled in a form saying you DON'T want anyone
to have your organs after you die. It's not an ideal solution but it would
overcome the 'inertia factor' and would enable thousands more patients
to receive a timely transplant.
“My mother made us eat all sorts of vitamins and supplements. One day
I nearly choked on part of The Sunday Times.” – Milton Jones
AND ... Nick Triggle (of the BBC) writes that many serious ops are
cancelled "on the day" ... including "everything from heart operations
and cancer surgery to complex abdominal cases and joint replacements."
He adds that "Research led by the Royal College of Anaesthetists and
University College London looked at more than 26,000 cases in a sevenday
period in March last year, across 245 UK hospitals. They found one in
seven operations were cancelled on the day of surgery. However,
researchers acknowledged it was likely this figure would be lower during
quieter periods of the year. Nonetheless, they said the problem needed
addressing as it put the health and welfare of patients at risk."
At the moment we're encouraged to have 'the conversation' with the
family - so that, if a tragedy occurs and your organs potentially become
available to those who desperately need them, family members won't
stand in the way.
That said, the shortage will remain for the foreseeable future. SWF isn't
short of entrepreneurs, though, and I did wonder when I saw this van
parked, if a resident who is capable of thinking 'outside the box' has
found a solution to the crisis.
This frequently happens because there is no spare capacity in the NHS ...
and it will keep happening because funding is such a problem. We GPs
frequently see people who have had out-patient appointments
postponed time after time.
Another major factor is poor management - for example, months in
advance a consultant books time off for a holiday in, say, June but
nobody thinks to cancel his clinics or to ensure that there is a
replacement consultant available. Consquently, when Jne comes around,
everybody is taken by surprise.
"I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with
all those wee red knives." Billy Connolly.
In case I'm wrong about this, can I suggest that you Google: 'organ
donation' or go to https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-todonate/
Dr John
SOUTH WOODHAM
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