NHS news in brief

NHS research strategy
The UK government has launched a new strategy for the NHS to make better use of the £650m a year spent on research.

Health minister, Jane Kennedy, said she wanted more pharma companies to carry out clinical trials in the NHS.

ìThe pharmaceutical industry tells me it does only 2 per cent of the world's clinical trials in the UK - and that is too little,î she said. ìIf we can get it right for the industry, then public interest studies will be much improved.î

Annual expenditure on NHS research is yet to rise to £800m over the next two years.

New protest over Herceptin postcode lottery
A 45-year old mother is to carry her protest over the lack of access to breast cancer drug Herceptin to the Welsh assembly.

Jayne Sullivan will start her demonstration on Wednesday February 1, the day after she learns whether her oncologist will apply for the drug to treat her.

ìI will carry on until this bureaucracy ends and this highly successful drug is available to women like me,î said Ms Sullivan.

Last year, another cancer patient, Barbara Clark, 49, took her fight to obtain Herceptin to the European Court of Human Rights.

iSoft blames NHS IT delays
Healthcare software provider iSoft has blamed delays to the £6.2bn modernisation of the NHS IT infrastructure for its £55m shortfall in full-year revenues.

Delays to the project, which accounts for about 20 per cent of iSoft's revenue, has created 'uncertainty' for the financial year, the firm said in a trading update.

iSoft said overall revenues during the lifetime of the NHS IT programme remained in line with its expectations but admitted that the longer-term financial impact of changes to the programme was currently unclear.