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RCP President Reponds To New ONS Figures Suggesting That School Pupils Are More Likely To Drink Alcohol If They Live With Other Drinkers, UK
Responding to data in Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England, 2008 that suggests the likelihood of a pupil drinking alcohol increases with the number of drinkers per household, Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians said:

Visit To The Doctor: The Supply Of Additional Private Services Is Increasing
Panel physicians are increasingly offering individual health services (IHS) to patients with statutory health insurance. This is documented by Susanne Richter et al. of the Department of Social Medicine, Lubeck University, in the new edition of Deutsches Arzteblatt (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106(26): 433-9). IHS include medical health services which are not reimbursed by the health insurance funds and which the patient has to pay for himself.
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New York Doctors Race To Abide By In-Office Surgery Rules
"A New York State law that takes effect on July 14 has physicians who perform office-based surgery scrambling to upgrade their offices or find new space altogether," The New York Times reports. The Patient Protection Bill, "signed into law by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in July 2007, is intended to ensure high safety standards in offices when surgery and other invasive procedures are conducted with more than minimal sedation" and is "the first time that New York State will regulate office-based surgeries." Doctors may need to modify their office space with "larger elevators, improved ventilation, backup power equipment with the ability to run for a longer period and other mechanical accommodations." But "since some medical offices cannot be physically adapted to meet accreditation requirements, especially in Manhattan, many physicians have been seeking new office space." This can be difficult in the city, where there is "a dearth of recently built medical office space." Claire Pospisil, "a spokeswoman with the New York State Department of Health, said the state did not know how many medical offices were conducting operations; this was one reason for the new law." She estimates that "70 or 75 percent of medical offices in New York City and Long Island do these surgeries."
Health Insurance

Update Of Radiation Exposure Guidance For The UK

Scientists at the Health Protection Agency have published their advice to UK bodies following new international guidance on ionising radiation*. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) published updated recommendations on protection against ionising radiation in 2007. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has now published its advice on applying those recommendations. Broadly the HPA has welcomed the ICRP"s recommendations and says that much of the advice is already being applied in the UK. After reviewing ICRP guidance, the HPA recommends that the Government tightens control of public radiation exposure at any new build nuclear power stations or radioactive waste disposal sites to a level of less than 0.15 millisieverts (mSv) a year. The average annual dose that a person receives from natural ionising radiation is 2.2 mSv a year. Part of the ICRP report looks at management of, and responses to, radiation emergencies. The HPA has concluded the ICRP"s guidance is helpful and is calling on all appropriate bodies to review their plans on how the aftermath of an incident could be managed. Dr John Cooper, Director of the HPA"s Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, said: "ICRP"s recommendations have resulted from extensive international consultation, and in the UK we have also carried out an open consultation. "Mostly there is no need to change UK regulations and procedures, but when these are reviewed in the future, the new recommendations should be implemented as described in our advice". * Application of the 2007 Recommendations of the ICRP to the UK - Advice from the Health Protection Agency. RCE-12. June 2009. ISBN: 978-0-85951-647-1. Available by download from the HPA website: click here. Notes - The International Commission on Radiological Protection published its recommendations in 2007 following extensive consultation. In 2008 the HPA carried out a national consultation on the ICRP"s recommendations, and the feedback received during that process will be published later. - Under the Health Protection Act 2004 which set up the HPA, one of its functions is to advise Government and other interested parties on the application of international recommendations on radiation protection in the UK. - Previous advice from the former National Radiological Protection Board was that public exposure levels at radiation facilities, including new build, should be controlled below a maximum of 0.3mSv. Health Protection Agency


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