BRITAIN'S NHS GOES WACKY

Cherie's magic magnets cure

NHS accountants are so impressed by the cost-effectiveness of a "magnetic leg wrap" called 4UlcerCare that from Wednesday doctors will be allowed to prescribe it to patients.

Magnetic therapy, which was pioneered in ancient Egypt, has become one of the pillars of modern alternative medicine. Its adherents include Cherie Blair, Bill Clinton and Sir Anthony Hopkins, the actor. Although its merits are challenged by traditional medics, it is used to treat joint pains, sports injuries, backache, muscle soreness and period pain. It is also used on animals - 4UlcerCare was inspired by a dog named Kiri, which developed severe arthritis. Conventional treatments did not help and, after researching the use of magnets, Kiri's owner, Derek Price, made a magnetic collar. The dog made a remarkable recovery, which led Price to start manufacturing magnetic treatments for animals and people. Magnopulse, of which he is managing director, has sold more than 1m therapeutic magnets since 1997 to treat arthritis, swollen ankles, period pains and varicose veins.

The NHS Prescription Pricing Authority has ruled that 4UlcerCare is not just good for patients but also a good use of NHS cash. It believes the magnets will save money on bandages and nurses' time by healing the wounds. It has included magnets on the official list of items that can be prescribed on the NHS. The NHS has even done a cut-price deal with the manufacturers, buying treatments at 13.80 pounds instead of the normal price of 29 pounds.

Critics of magnetic therapy say it is no more effective than a placebo, however. Only last month a paper in the British Medical Journal by Professor Leonard Finegold, from Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Professor Bruce Flamm, from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Riverside, California, cast doubt on the treatment. "Patients should be advised that magnet therapy has no proven benefits. If they insist on using a magnetic device, they could be advised to buy the cheapest - this will alleviate the pain in their wallet," they wrote.

It is not known exactly how magnets work. Adherents believe they improve circulation because they attract the iron in blood towards them and, in doing so, increase the supply of oxygen to the wound. They may also reduce painful acidity in tissue.

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BUT NO FUNDING FOR SOME TREATMENTS THAT DO work

I guess Brits might have to wait until Cherie Blair backs it

The patient with a cerebral tumour may well complain of a headache. Classically, such headaches are worse in the mornings after the patient has been lying flat all night. They are usually across the forehead, affect both sides of the head and are made worse by coughing, straining or vomiting. Over time they tend to last longer and longer into the day and are increasingly likely to be associated with dizziness, nausea, clumsiness and a disturbed gait. Other people often notice subtle changes in the personality of their friend or relative. In one case in four, it is these observed changes that first draw attention to the possibility of a brain tumour. The patient may become difficult, obstinate or aggressive. Their behaviour and language may change and they may begin to show a Jekyll-and-Hyde side to their nature.

Seizures can also be an early symptom. If the tumour is pressing on some precise spot in the brain, it may give rise to related symptoms - for example, pressure on nerves leading to the eye may cause double vision. Although only a few headaches are related to cerebral tumours, these cancers are not as rare as people like to think - 10 per cent of solid cancers are within the brain, and these account for 1 per cent of all deaths in the UK. Unfortunately, treatment of the common brain cancers has not improved dramatically in the past 30 years, although modern surgery and radiotherapy are giving patients a longer survival time....

In this distressing field of medicine there has recently been a glimmer of hope - not a huge breakthrough but a significant one. Treatment has been introduced that can prolong survival time by 20 per cent in those suffering from a glioma. Gliomas account for 60 per cent of brain tumours. A licence was recently granted for the insertion of a chemotherapeutic, biodegradable disc or wafer, the size of a 5p piece, into the tumour site at surgery, with the intention of destroying the glioma tentacles that have escaped the surgeon's knife.

Unfortunately the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) is reluctant to recommend that the NHS pays for it and is equally reluctant to pay for temozolomide, another advance in the treatment of gliomas: 26 per cent of patients taking temozolomide were alive two years after treatment, compared with only 10 per cent who had radiotherapy alone. These latest treatments have been widely adopted by countries much poorer than Britain.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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