Wednesday 12 November 2008

Elderly could miss life-saving treatment after government shelves plan

Elderly people could be denied NHS treatment because of their age after a Government climb-down, it has been claimed.

Ministers have effectively shelved plans for new laws that would ban age discrimination in the health and social care sectors.

The move prompted age campaigners to warn that older people will be left vulnerable to discrimination and could miss out on life-saving treatment in favour of younger patients.

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Royal National Institute For Deaf People Calls On Biotechs To Tackle Hearing Loss

BIO-Europe Conference - 17-19 November 2008 - Mannheim/Heidelberg, Germany. There are currently no drugs available to protect against, prevent or restore hearing loss. The only options for individuals suffering hearing loss are hearing aids and cochlear implants. RNID Research is attending BIO-Europe to raise awareness of the currently unmet clinical needs of people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

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Revolutionary operation could let deaf man, 29, hear for the first time

He has been completely deaf since birth, but a Dalry man is preparing for an operation which could let him hear for the first time.

Mark Ramsay, 29, will undergo the revolutionary treatment in one of his ears this week at a hospital in Ayrshire. He came through a lengthy testing process which found he had sufficient nerves in his ear to go ahead with the cochlear implants treatment.

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Health board elections attacked

Plans for direct elections to health boards in Scotland have come under attack by several NHS authorities.

Bosses in Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Tayside said the move could destabilise the service by drawing board rooms into party politics.

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Probe into boosting minority MPs

Proposals for a Parliamentary inquiry into how to boost the numbers of women, ethnic minority and disabled MPs will be put to MPs later.

Gordon Brown announced plans for a "Speaker's Conference" a year ago, to examine ways of making the Commons more representative of the UK as a whole.

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