Unison Agree to Pay Deal

Members of Britain's largest health union have voted overwhelmingly to accept the Government's latest pay offer.

Unison, representing more than half a million health workers, announced that nearly two-thirds of those who had voted accepted the pay deal. They join the Royal College of Nursing, where 92% of the membership voted in favour of the proposals.

The deal, worth around 8% over three years, would see health workers receive an increase of 2.7% from April and further rises of 2.4% and 2.25% in 2009/10 and 2010/11 respectively. The increase would bring the starting salary for a newly qualified nurse to £20,225 this year.

Several smaller unions, including the Royal College of Midwives, the GMB and Unite, have rejected the pay deal, arguing that it amounts to a pay cut when the price of living is taken into account.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said it had recommended the proposed deal to members because it was fair, balanced and "the best deal in the public sector".

"We worked hard to negotiate this deal for our members and it's clear from their response they want us to accept it," he said.

"Some of our lowest paid members, health care assistants and newly qualified nurses will be better off with a pay deal that is worth between 14% and 16%," he added.

Health secretary Alan Johnson said the pay deal had been constructed with "skilled and professional union negotiators".

He added: "The NHS and patients will benefit from pay stability over the next three years that will allow everyone in the service to concentrate on improving patient care even further."

Unison has signalled that it will not hesitate in renegotiating the deal if the rate of inflation continues to rise.

Antibacterial Wipes May Spread MRSA

Some types of antibacterial wipes used in hospitals may be responsible for spreading MRSA instead of killing it, according to recent research.

Scientists at the Welsh School of Pharmacy observed that MRSA survived on the surface of the wipe and could be transmitted if it was subsequently used for further cleaning.

Dr Gareth Williams, who is presenting the research at the American Society of Microbiology's Annual Meeting in Boston, said he planned to share his full findings with infection control teams.

During his research Dr Williams visited several hospitals to observe how staff used the wipes. He noticed that it was common practice for a single wipe to be used on more than one surface.

Dr Williams commented: "What I found was that staff would wipe one thing, perhaps a bed rail, then move on to several other surfaces, so we went back to the laboratory to see how different wipes performed under these conditions."

The wipes are efficient at cleaning bacteria from the first surface, but were unable to kill the bacteria quickly. This meant that the subsequent cleaning using the same wipe resulted in contamination.

Dr Williams said: "What is remarkable is that some of these wipes actually have the words 'kills MRSA' written on the box.

"We found that, under the conditions we observed in actual hospitals, this wasn't the case."

The researchers recommend that wipes are used on a single surface only.

Increase in Dental Abscesses

An increase in the number of dental patients being admitted to hospital with abscesses is being linked to long-standing problems over access to NHS dentists.

In the past eight years the number of hospital admissions for abscesses has almost doubled to just under 1,500 cases per year.

Reforms to NHS dentists' contracts in 1990 meant that many switched their attention to more lucrative private work. As dentists decreased their NHS workload the number of people registered for NHS treatment fell by six million in the decade 1994 to 2004.

Researchers from Bristol University have used official NHS data to compare the number of abscess admissions in the years 1998-9 and 2005-6.

The team dismissed the suggestion that poor oral health was to blame, pointing out that the average age of the abscess patients, at 32, was too young to support that claim.

Instead they have suggested that changes to the dental system - in particular poor access to NHS dentists - could be responsible for the sharp increase in abscess cases.

Lead researcher Steven Thomas, a surgeon who treats dental abscesses, said the rise in admissions was a "major public health problem".

"Most serious dental infections are preventable with regular dental care. Indeed, this is the rationale for regular dental check-ups.

"Changes in service provision could, therefore, have resulted in reduced provision of routine dental care and access to emergency dental care.

"These changes might explain the rise in surgical admissions for dental abscess."

The Government introduced new contracts for NHS dentists in 2006, but early indications are that it has done little to widen patient access.

Gum Disease Linked to Increased Cancer Risk

People with gum disease may also be at an increased risk of developing some kinds of cancer, according to recently published research.

Scientists from Imperial College London discovered that male health professionals with a history of gum disease were at 14 percent higher overall risk of developing cancer than those with healthy gums.

Lead researcher, Dr Dominique Michaud, said in Lancet Oncology: "After controlling for smoking and other risk factors, periodontal disease was significantly associated with an increased risk of lung, kidney, pancreatic and hematological (blood) cancers."

Gum or periodontal disease is an infection of the tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth. Prior studies have suggested people with periodontal disease are more likely to develop heart disease and diabetes.

The investigation used data collected from almost 50,000 men aged between 40 and 75. The oral health of the men was monitored by the regular completion of medical questionnaires over a 17-year period.

More than 5,700 of the men developed cancer, excluding cases of non-melanoma skin cancers and non-aggressive prostate cancer. The researchers found that men with gum disease had 14 percent higher cancer risk compared to those who did not.

The risks were higher depending on the type of cancer.

Of the men studied those with history of gum disease had a 36 percent higher risk of lung cancer, a 49 percent higher risk of kidney cancer, a 54 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer and a 30 percent higher risk of having a blood cancer compared to men who did not have a history of gum disease.

In those who never smoked, gum disease was linked with a 21 percent increase in overall cancer risk and a 35 percent higher risk of blood cancers. They found no association for lung cancer in this group.

"The increased risks noted for hematological, kidney, and pancreatic cancers need confirmation but suggest that gum disease might be a marker of a susceptible immune system or might directly affect cancer risk," Dr Michaud said in a statement.

The researchers concluded by saying it was too early to suggest that good oral hygiene can have any effect at preventing cancer but said periodontal disease should be treated nevertheless.