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NASA developed this technology to research plant growth in space, the US Military amongst others have done research into various health and healing benefits, including the treatment of cancer patients and bone marrow recipiants. Infrared light is an invisible part of the light spectrum including natural sunlight. Infrared therapy provides a lot of the benefits that sunlight provides us but without any of the harmful effects of solar radiation. The infrared heat can travel two or three inches into the skin and helps to increase blood flow and circulation plus nourishes and aids the regeneration of damaged tissues. Red Light Therapy is an up and coming technology that can provide relief from a number of conditions, can help rejuvenate skin and is completely safe and natural. Red Light Therapy stimulates collagen production in the skin providing results in weeks.

There are many uses for red light therapy:

• Rejuvenates your skin
• Removes lines, wrinkles and other signs of aging
• Effective acne treatment – killing the bacteria that cause acne
• Treats sun damaged skin
• Increases blood flow and circulation
• Aids in healing damaged skin, up to twice as fast
• Reduces and eliminates stretch marks
• Can help treat depression
• Relieves joint pain
• Reduces scarring
• Treats Eczema and Psoriasis
• Firms, tones and restores moisture to your skin

Sounds great doesn’t it? If you want to see the results for yourself check outRed Light Therapy they use the latest in high wattage infrared bulb technology in their beds but this technology has been used by NASA and others for a long time.

The NHS under the spotlight again! This is because they are being accused of not doing enough to protect staff from a daily barrage of punches, slaps and kicks. In the last 3 years there has ony been a 0.5% increase in sanctions against offenders, this is despite a promise of “zero tolerance” approach.

Some cases that have made it to court got dropped as it was deemed “not to be of public interest”. Surely the medical staff have the same rights as everyone else to go to work and do their job without fear of being attacked. Instead that basic right has been denied. The medical professionals are under enough strain as it is with the potential collapse of the institute that provides them with a job and the fact the NHS is stretched so much that there isn’t enough staff.

More should be done to protect those that provide such a valuable service, saving lives.

According to the University of London, the number of Down’s syndrome pregnancies has risen by more than 70% over the last 20 years. These statistics reflect the growing number of older women becoming pregnant, when there is a higher risk. An increase in the number of subsequent abortions and more antenatal diagnoses means slightly fewer children are being born with Down’s syndrome.

The number of Down’s syndrome pregnancies rose from 1,075 diagnoses in 1990 to 1,843 by 2008 in England and Wales. Despite this the number of Down’s pregnancies, the number of babies with Down’s syndrome has fallen by 1%, from 752 to 743. According to the study this is because improved antenatal screening means more Down’s pregnancies are being spotted and more abortions are taking place. Without the improved screening, the number of babies born with Down’s would have risen by 48%.

So what is Down’s syndrome?
A genetic disorder named after the British physician John Langdon Down, who identified it in 1866.
Inhibits the ability to learn and develop mentally.
About 60,000 people have Down’s syndrome in the UK.

Joan Morris, professor of medical statistics at Queen Mary, led the research and she said: “What we’re seeing here is a steep rise in pregnancies with Down’s syndrome but that is being offset by improvements in screening. Doctors told Natasha and Eddie Batha that there was a one-in-170 chance that their daughter Mia, who is now three, would be born with the condition, when it was discovered that Mia did have the condition they realised that it was not as bad as they had feared.

People seem to forget that there is a person behind the label who is just a little bit different, in some cases unless you were told a person has a specific condition you wouldn’t know. It would seem that if people were better informed about things like this then there may be fewer terminations because mothers are led to believe that if their child is diagnosed with something then it is the worst thing ever.

Given the current economic climate this is an important and timely conference, designed specifically to help address the challenge facing healthcare teams and organisations as they strive to manage costs in a period of growing financial famine. Whilst commencing with the drivers of financial change, the programme addresses the full breadth of issues surrounding achieving meaningful cost improvement without compromising clinical quality. Cost improvement will only be achieved with the hearts, minds and practical engagement of the clinical workforce itself and so this receives special attention in a practical, hard hitting but positive programme.

Medicology Conferences are designed to enable the widest possible audience to gain insight into and solutions
to the core issues facing healthcare professionals today, by providing a cost-effective and accessible platform for information migration, experience sharing, collaboration and knowledge management. Conference topics are identified utilising the following criteria:

• There is a pressing need to resolve challenges in that area
• A wider audience needs access to important insight
• The topic area warrants wider discussion
• The issue in question has significant impact on healthcare success

We are particularly committed to bringing knowledge, insight, strategies & skills to frontline healthcare
professionals, who often face the challenge of implementing major initiatives or resolving key challenges at the operational coalface. Doctors, Nurses, Allied and Business Professionals at all levels of the organisation need access to the insight brought to Medicology Conferences. Widely Accessible to the Right People
Clinical and other frontline staff often find it difficult to access the insight necessary to succeed and thrive in the modern environment because many healthcare conferences are organised, publicised and priced in a manner that precludes them from attending when in fact it is they who really need access to the insight. Medicology conferences are designed to address this very issue by:
• Carefully managing costs to ensure the lowest possible cost of attendance
• Utilising lower cost but high quality venues to ensure the right capacity at the right price
• Ensuring the widest possible publicity to the right people

To book onto this amazing conference Cost Improvement Conference

In an attempt to transform services and improve value for money a lot of healthcare organisations have turned to Lean as the basis of their improvement efforts. It is not a new concept in fact its origins can be traced back to the 15th Century when the Venetian Navy introduced a ‘flow line’ for the production of war ships. Most people though would trace its history from its implementation within Toyota where is acquired the name of the ‘Toyota Production System’ and this became ‘Lean’ in the book ‘Lean Thinking’ that was published in 1996.

However, whilst the history of Lean in manufacturing is well established, it has only been over the last five or so years that Lean has found its way into the healthcare sector. The initial focus of Lean in healthcare was very ‘point’ focused, such as fixing low level problems in a pathology lab or dealing with theatre capacity. When organisations realised that such a low level approach was unlikely to lead to changes that lasted, the focus changed to ‘end to end’ clinical pathways, but in the early days this meant from the start point till the end point for a patient within a single organisation.
Amnis Courses

As Lean has matured, more people have started to experiment with pan-health economy Lean and this is where Lean moves from being a tactical tool to a strategic approach. It is still early days for the larger projects but there are already signs of success that significantly outweigh the many problems any form of transformation activity within the healthcare sector will experience.

In particular, because Lean consultants generally use a lot of jargon and even today use a lot of manufacturing related examples, it can be very off-putting for front-line healthcare staff. Even more damaging though is when Lean is used as a punishment because a team are under-performing or where the leadership team have hidden motives.

Lean can also experience problems after implementation if the focus is not on turning the changes in the process that have been achieved (such as new referral process) into a change in behaviour (which is achieved when people no longer realise that the process is ‘new’). With a lot of the early adopters of Lean focusing on the exciting parts of Lean, such as ‘Rapid Improvement Events’, the aspects of successful programmes that really make the difference have been forgotten, such as making sure that the Lean programme aligns with the organisational objectives, engaging frontline staff and dealing with any problems that arise along the way through some form of ‘Continuous Improvement’ process.

Healthcare organisations are already experiencing many of the problems that manufacturers have had to deal with for several decades, namely how to turn great ‘brown paper’ plans into real changes and then how to make those changes stick. It may not be surprising to realise that up to 75% of Lean programmes will never deliver long-term change, instead consisting of a series of exciting (yet ultimately wasteful) Rapid Improvement Events, and that is the same in healthcare as it is in manufacturing.

The choices for healthcare organisations going Lean is either to do it properly and ensure that the changes stick, which can be very demanding of management time, or trying a few isolated projects where the benefits ultimately drift away.

The key to success is to ensure that you adopt an approach to Lean that is flexible for your organisation and not rigidly imposed by a management consultancy to suit them and also to develop the internal capability of your staff as quickly as possible so that they can take the reins for your improvement programme. Ensuring all of this works is where the leadership team need to ensure that the targets they set for their Lean projects will deliver the organisational objectives and that everyone, from the boardroom to the wards, understands what needs to be done, why and by when.

This article was taken from Training Bulletin and is run by a company called amnis if you wish to get more details on this follow this link Accelerated Lean Skills Programme.

UK researchers claim that antidepressants get to work immediately to lift mood, contrary to current belief.
The researchers state that although patients may not notice the effects until months into the therapy, they work subconsciously. According to Oxford University Researchers the action is rapid, occuring within hours of taking the drugs.

Dr Michael Thase, a psychiatrist from the University of Pennsylvania, said the findings challenged conventional wisdoms and were potentially “paradigm-changing”. “The highest research priority is to confirm that the rapid effects observed in this study are predictive of eventual clinical benefit.”

He said it was possible that switching off the negative thoughts was a crucial part of the therapy.

Alternatively, it might merely be a sign that the drug was beginning to work at the cell level in the brain.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: “This research may contribute to our understanding of how our bodies respond to antidepressants, but the changes recorded can’t always be felt by patients and it can be some weeks before they begin to feel the symptoms of depression easing.

“We must also remember that the side-effects of medication can often be felt straight away long before the benefits really kick in, and this will always affect people’s experiences in the initial stages of treatment.”