News

In brief

The 1991 census has provided further evidence, if any were needed, of the stark health inequalities which persist in the UK. An analysis of the figures by the School of Advanced Urban Studies at Bristol University shows that long term illness affects over two fifths of households in Easington, County Durham — three times as many as in Wokingham, Berkshire.

The Australian government plans to save at least $300m (£140m) on its health care budget over the next four years by increasing prescription charges, means-testing optometry and eye tests, and reducing medical fraud.

Closure of military hospitals as part of the current round of defence cuts will increase the pressure on NHS waiting lists, warns the NHS Support Federation. Two out of every three patients treated by military hospitals are civilians.

US hospitals spend one quarter of their budget on administration, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers from Harvard University analysed data provided to the US government by 1600 hospitals, and estimate that if non-clinical spending was on a par with that in Canada, the US would save £50bn each year.

There is fresh controversy over the safety of bicycle helmets, following a report from the Policy Studies Institute which claims that there is little evidence that they are of any value in collisions with moving vehicles.

‘Calling on cyclists to increase their safety by wearing a helmet shifts responsibility away from the drivers, the agents of accidents, on to cyclists who are nearly always the victims,’ says the report.

The Caesarian section rate has risen threefold in the past 20 years despite no clear evidence that the rise is medically justified, according to a new book by Wendy Savage, Helen Lewison, Colin Francome and Helen Churchill. They are concerned that no official figures on Caesarians are collected nationally.

Health secretary Virginia Bottomley has appealed to the last 44 NHS hospitals which are not yet trusts to apply for self-governing status. Labour has pledged to reverse the self-governing nature of trusts.

There are now 292 NHS trusts in existence, with 145 more due in April 1994.