Baby's life saved by 3D-printed tracheal splint

Doctors at the University of Michigan have saved the life of a 20-month-old baby with a collapsed trachea by printing a custom designed splint based on a CT scan of his trachea. With video.

See: www.mtbeurope.info/news/2013/1306003.htm

MTB Europe: Thirteen national science academies call on G8 to act on drug resistance threat

The national science academies of the G8 member states and five other science academies, are calling on the G8 governments to take action over two threats to human populations: drug-resistant infectious agents and sustainable development.

Infectious agents that are resistant to drugs represent one of the greatest threats to the human population worldwide. People are increasingly being infected with resistant pathogens, and more and more often the drugs used to treat them, such as antibiotics, are not working. The academies also warn that the number of multi-drug-resistant infections acquired in hospital settings is on the rise. 

Read more at http://www.mtbeurope.info/news/2013/1306002.htm

King's Fund report on emergency and urgent care

The urgent and emergency care system is under pressure, and performance on a number of important indicators, including the four-hour wait for accident and emergency (A&E) and ambulance handover targets, worsened during the winter and early part of 2013.
This has prompted a review of emergency care led by NHS England Medical Director, Bruce Keogh, and an inquiry by the Health Select Committee. NHS England has also announced that its local area teams are drawing up A&E recovery plans.
While the focus of attention has been the pressures felt by A&E services, there is no single cause or solution to this problem: the pressures are caused by issues across the health care system.
The King's Fund has published a selection of their policy research and analysis in this area.
http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/urgent-emergency-care