01-13-2004, 05:38 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Banned
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England socialised Medicine.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/...122122,00.html
Quote:
The government's plans to introduce screening for bowel cancer across the UK could founder on the inadequate and over-stretched existing services for diagnosing gut disorders, according to a major study published today.
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. There are 30,000 diagnoses and 15,000 deaths each year. The government has pledged to set up a screening service and has run two pilot studies, but as yet there is no date for screening to begin.
The programme, which could cut death from the disease by 15%, will depend on the availability of following up blood test screening with colonoscopies, the "gold standard" investigation in which a tiny camera is inserted through the rectum and along the large intestine.
But an analysis of 9,223 colonoscopies in 68 NHS hospitals over four months reveals that many were inadequate and most of the staff carrying them out had not been properly trained.
"Colonoscopy is a difficult skill to master," says the paper in the medical journal Gut by Cecilia Bowles and colleagues from the Royal Free hospital in London. "Over-sedation, perforation, bleeding and procedure-related death remain much feared complications."
In 20% of the colonoscopies studied, the procedure had to be abandoned, say the authors. Only 56.9% of all colonoscopies could be confirmed to be complete.
"We are urging government to thrash out what resources will be needed to implement the national bowel cancer screening programme so it is not placed in jeopardy," said Mike Hellier of the British Society of Gastroenterology.
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More proof that Government controled medicine just doesnt work.
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