Daily digest June 10 2015

Crackdown on the nurses who cheat their way into the UK

Hospital bosses are shaking up the way they recruit foreign nurses, the Daily Mail has reported, after the newspaper published allegations that candidates in the Philippines were being allowed to cheat in exams.

King’s College Hospital in London said it is reviewing its contract with recruitment firm Omanfil in the Philippines, which has supplied scores of nurses across the UK.

It said NHS recruiters will ‘take responsibility for some processes previously undertaken’ by Omanfil and the Manila-based manpower company revealed it had parted company with a senior female official who helped candidates cheat in exams.

Read more on the Mail Online website

NHS errors leave 1,300 babies dead or maimed

The annual bill for NHS negligence in pregnancy has reached £1 billion after more than 1,300 babies were killed or maimed last year, the Times has reported.

One basic error accounts for a quarter of payouts, with campaigners saying it was a ‘scandal’ that the health service was failing to learn from its mistakes. They blamed divisions between midwives and doctors, saying that the desire for ‘natural’ births – without interventions – sometimes went too far.

Health chiefs are understood to be planning a drive for more consistent care and independent investigation of deaths, as figures seen by the Times show that the NHS is spending ever bigger sums on compensating families for dead and brain-damaged children.

(£) Read more on the Times website

Woman is first to give birth to healthy baby after ovarian tissue graft

A young woman in Belgium has become the first to give birth to a healthy baby after having her fertility restored by a transplant of ovarian tissue that was removed and frozen when she was a child.

The pioneering treatment could lift the spectre of infertility for girls who undergo harsh chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments at a young age when they do not yet have mature eggs that can be stored for use in the future.

As reported in the Guardian, the 27-year-old patient, who has asked to remain anonymous, gave birth to a healthy boy in November and was said to be overjoyed after suffering years of anxiety about her fertility since undergoing chemotherapy as a 13 year old.

Read more on the Guardian website

Parliament will debate law change on assisted suicide

MPs are to consider allowing terminally ill people to end their lives in the first ever serious attempt in the House of Commons to overturn the ban on assisted suicide, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

Rob Marris, the MP for Wolverhampton South West, is to use a guaranteed slot for backbench legislation to bring proposals put forward by Lord Falconer in the Lords last year to the elected house.

Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer took a high-profile private member’s bill through its initial legislative stages before running out of parliamentary time ahead of the general election.

Read more on the Telegraph website