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Press releases Saturday 28 May 2005

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(1) A&E DOCTORS CALL FOR BAN ON POINTED KITCHEN KNIVES

(2) EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO A GOOD DOCTOR, SAYS FORMER GMC PRESIDENT

(3) MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO TACKLE HEART DISEASE AMONG SOUTH ASIANS

(1) A&E DOCTORS CALL FOR BAN ON POINTED KITCHEN KNIVES

(Reducing knife crime: we need to ban the sale of long pointed kitchen knives)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7502/1221

Long pointed kitchen knives should be banned to reduce violent crime and deaths from stabbing, say accident and emergency doctors in this week's BMJ.

Violent crime is on the increase in the UK, say the authors, whose experience of working in emergency departments suggests that kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.

Many assaults are committed impulsively and prompted by alcohol and other drugs, and a kitchen knife makes an all too available weapon in such circumstances.

Yet there is no reason for long pointed knives to be publicly available at all, having little practical value in the kitchen, argue the authors - who consulted ten top chefs from around the UK. None of the chefs felt such knives were essential, since the point of a short blade was just as useful when a sharp end was needed.

A short pointed knife may cause a substantial superficial wound if used in an assault, but is unlikely to penetrate to inner organs. Whereas a pointed long blade pierces the body like "cutting into a ripe melon", say the authors.

The use of knives is particularly worrying amongst adolescents, say the authors, reporting that 24% of 16 year olds have been shown to carry weapons, primarily knives.

Links between easy access to domestic knives and violent assault are long established, say the authors, highlighting 17th century French laws which decreed that the tips of table and street knives be ground smooth. A century later in this country forks and blunt-ended table knives were introduced in an effort to reduce injuries during arguments in public eating houses.

The present-day UK Government should also legislate to combat injuries from knives, argue the authors. Banning the sale of long pointed knives would be a key step in the fight against violent crime.

Contacts:

Dr Emma Hern, Specialist Registrar in Emergency Medicine, West Middlesex University Hospital, London, UK
Email: emmah@doctors.org.uk

or

Dr Mike Beckett, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, West Middlesex University Hospital, London, UK

(2) EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO A GOOD DOCTOR, SAYS FORMER GMC PRESIDENT

(Patients, professionalism, and revalidation)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7502/1265

Everyone is entitled to a good doctor and the public will no longer tolerate substandard practice, says Donald Irvine, former president of the General Medical Council in this week's BMJ.

He calls on the GMC to rise to the challenge of revalidation - checking that a doctor is fit to practise ? and offers a six point plan to help secure good doctoring for all.

Firstly, we must agree that all patients are entitled to be treated only by good doctors, he writes. This is vital to patients and should be equally important to good doctors, whose collective reputation is inevitably damaged by poorly performing colleagues.

Secondly, we must make patient centred professionalism a priority. The profession and the GMC have much to gain from seeing the principles of accountability (transparency, external scrutiny, and the duty to explain) as precious assets rather than a threat.

Other actions include closing the standards gap and ensuring that revalidation is based on assessment of performance. The GMC also needs to be accountable to the public through parliament.

Done well, revalidation will both protect patients and support doctors, he says. However, it must be based on sound evaluation of a doctor's practice in order to command public trust and make revalidation feel fair and worthwhile for doctors.

Contact:

Donald Irvine, Chairman of Trustees, Picker Institute Europe Tel (in Philadelphia, USA):
Email: donald@donaldirvine.demon.co.uk

(3) MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO TACKLE HEART DISEASE AMONG SOUTH ASIANS

(Excess coronary heart disease in South Asians in the United Kingdom)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7502/1223

Much more needs to be done to tackle heart disease in South Asians in the United Kingdom, say doctors in this week's BMJ.

Health inequality between ethnic groups in the United Kingdom is widening. Death rates from coronary heart disease in South Asians (immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) have declined at a slower rate than in the indigenous population, while evidence shows that second and third generation South Asians seem to be displaying many of the same risk characteristics that make them prone to coronary heart disease as their parents and grandparents.

Although we still do not have a full explanation for excess deaths from coronary heart disease in South Asians, factors may include higher rates of diabetes, disadvantaged socioeconomic status, high fat diet, and lack of exercise.

Evidence also shows that South Asians are less likely to be prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs and more likely to decline and drop out from cardiac rehabilitation programmes. This may partly be a result of the "attitude of not taking advantage of the health service," lack of awareness of coronary heart disease," and the "linguistic and cultural barriers" seen in this population.

The Department of Health and the British Heart Foundation have played a part in attempting to tackle coronary heart disease among South Asians, including the publication of the national service framework, school fruit and exercise schemes, and funding of community and research projects.

But more needs to be done, say the authors, including better education, aggressive prevention strategies, and more research, and any health services offered need to be appropriate for the culture, religion, and languages of South Asians.

These strategies have become more relevant, considering that the next wave of statistics is likely to mirror the last, they conclude.

Contact:

Sandeep Gupta, Consultant Cardiologist, Whipps Cross University Hospital, London, UK
Email: sgupta111@aol.com

FOR ACCREDITED JOURNALISTS

Embargoed press releases and articles are available from:

Public Affairs DivisionBMA HouseTavistock SquareLondon WC1H 9JR
(contact: pressoffice@bma.org.uk)

and from:

the EurekAlert website, run by the American Association for theAdvancement of Science(http://www.eurekalert.org)