Vitamin D 'heals damaged hearts'

Vitamin D supplements may help people with diseased hearts a study suggests, the BBC reports.

A trial on 163 heart failure patients found supplements of the vitamin, which is made in the skin when exposed to sunlight, improved their hearts' ability to pump blood around the body.

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals team, who presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology, described the results as "stunning".

The British Heart Foundation called for longer trials to assess the pills.

Health tourists cost UK taxpayers nearly £6billion in eight years

Britain has lost more than £6billion in the past eight years treating foreigners from the European Union in UK hospitals, new Government figures reveal, The Telegraph reports.

The UK paid out £6.2billion to EU countries to cover the treatment of Britons in their hospitals last year – but received only £405million in return from EU countries for treating ill foreigners in the National Health Service.

The deficit works out at £723million a year or £2million a day, a figure described by J Meirion Thomas, a hospital consultant who blew the whistle on health tourism, as “staggering”.

The deficit would be enough to pay the salaries of an additional 2,638 GPs, or abolish prescription charges for everyone in England.

Citius Pharmaceuticals Completes Acquisition of Leonard-Meron Biosciences

Citius Pharmaceuticals has announced completion of the acquisition of Leonard-Meron Biosciences, Inc. ("LMB").

Pursuant to the acquisition, Citius acquired all of the outstanding shares of LMB common stock in exchange for shares of Citius common stock.

Citius is a specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of therapeutic products for healthcare markets where there are unmet needs using innovative, patented or proprietary formulations of pharmaceutical products.

Nine out of 10 GP practices struggle to find cover as GP shortage worsens

A recruitment “crisis” means GP practices in Yorkshire are facing a struggle to plug staffing gaps and offer enough appointments to meet demand, it is claimed, the Wakefield Express reports.

Surgeries are increasingly relying on support from locum doctors as the gap in the family doctor workforce widens, but many practices are having difficulties finding stand-in medics, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).

A new poll of 2,800 GP practices in England found that 46 per cent frequently have trouble finding locum cover and a further 40 per cent report occasional issues.
Regionally more than 80 per cent of practices surveyed reported having issues finding cover.