Media Monitoring: 8 – 14 August

In a study we found that samples taken from mothers and newborn babies younger than one week in Nigeria already had colistin-resistant bacteria present in their bodies.
But neither the babies nor their mothers had been treated with colistin.
We surmise that mothers may have picked up these colistin resistant bacteria from the environment.

A special care baby unit has said it is now able to diagnose jaundice within minutes, describing it as a “real game changer”.
All babies are regularly checked for jaundice in the first few days of life, as, although it is common, the condition can cause serious problems if not treated at the right time.
But following a research project, two neonatal nurses from Yeovil District Hospital say they have reduced the diagnosis time at the hospital from seven hours to three minutes.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal forms of cancer, primarily because it is usually diagnosed very late.
Current markers are too insensitive and unspecific for early detection screenings. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a new method that could lead to a significantly more precise and reliable diagnosis.
It is based on the selective detection of specific antibodies in blood samples.

A pioneering study, has provided the most comprehensive analysis to date of the genetic makeup of colorectal cancer (CRC).
Cancers develop partly through genetic abnormalities within cells of the body. Colorectal cancer is a major cause of death worldwide, but we don’t yet have a full understanding of the genetic changes that cause it to grow.
New research – led by UK universities, including The Institute of Cancer Research, London, the University of Oxford, and the University of Manchester, and published today in Nature – delivers an unprecedented view of the genetic landscape of CRC and its responses to treatment.

Since the introduction of Covid tests, at-home testing has become a part of daily life. Now, you can test for anything from fertility to liver function. But, are we left with more questions than answers?

Trusts could be forced to slow down payments to suppliers and delay capital projects after NHS England restricted access to cash for providers in deficit, finance directors have warned.

The Monthly Diagnostics statistics for June 2024 can be found here.

The total number of patients waiting six weeks or more from referral for one of the 15 key diagnostic tests at the end of May 2024 was 375,400. This was 22.9% of the total number of patients waiting at the end of the month.
Nationally, the operational standard of less than 1% of patients waiting six weeks or more was not met this month.
Compared with June 2023 the total number of patients waiting six weeks or more decreased by 28,000 while the proportion of patients waiting six weeks or more decreased by 2.2 percentage points.
In the last 12 months, the proportion of patients waiting six weeks or more at the end of a month has varied between 20.8% (February 2024) and 27.5% (August 2023).
The estimated average time that a patient had been waiting for a diagnostic test was 2.9 weeks at the end of June 2024.
There were 1,639,800 patients waiting for a key diagnostic test at the end of June 2024. This is an increase of 31,100 from May 2023.
A total of 2,328,300 diagnostic tests were undertaken in June 2024. This is an increase of 73,700 from June 2023.