A damning report by the Air Accidents Investigations Branch (or AAIB) has found that safety work was not properly completed on a plane whose landing gear collapsed.

According to the BBC, the British Airways Avro 146 flight, which was carrying 67 passengers, filled with smoke as it landed in February 2009. The incident occurred at London City Airport and was the result of a fatigue crack in the landing gear.

Although records showed that improvement work had been undertaken on the plane by its manufacturer, it clearly had not been completed.
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National Express has introduced a system to measure the alcohol levels in its coach drivers.

According to the BBC, the breathalyser style device operates to disable the vehicle if the driver is over the limit and the company’s Birmingham control room is then alerted.

The system was put in to place following a National Express employee being found guilty of driving dangerously and with excess alcohol in 2008, after his coach crashed and overturned on the M1.
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It’s a familiar story in the South again today, as heavy overnight snow in parts of east and south Kent has led to hazardous driving conditions and the closure of schools.

According to the BBC, as much as 15cm (6in) of snow has fallen in some areas.

The weather has caused considerable problems for those using the M20, A2 and A258 and rail passengers have also been warned to expect cancellations.

Eurotunnel has suspended services at Folkestone after safety concerns were raised about getting lorries on to trains in the snow.
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The family of a woman who died after she was prescribed an overdose of morphine say they are “disgusted” that the pharmacist involved has been cleared to continue in his position.

According to the BBC, Catherine Rodger, 75, died of a heart attack within hours of taking her first pill.  She was usually prescribed 10 mg of morphine to help with her back pain but was given a prescription of 100 mg on this occasion, 10 times her normal dosage.

Damages were paid by the practitioner, a Dr Salahuddin Malik and the pharmacist, Mr Andrew Nixon. It was Mr Nixon who distributed the prescription and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society found that, although he should have realised the doctor’s error and they acknowledged that he had made a serious mistake, his fitness to continue to practice was not impaired.
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The Times has completed an article today on the brain being tricked in to feeling pain and the methods being undertaken to try and reverse the process.

This assumption is based on the findings of Mr Craig Murray, a neuroscientist based at Lancaster University. He discusses ‘phantom limb’ syndrome. This, as the name suggests, is where amputees are still able to experience sensations such as clenching a fist or swinging a leg, despite no longer possessing that body part.

This weird phenomenon has traditionally been explained by the suggestion that nerve endings, traumatised due to injury or the amputation, must be misfiring and sending the wrong signals to the brain. However, Mr Murray has found in his studies that the pain or sensations felt by victims of accidents are often related to accidents prior to the trauma which caused their amputation and may be psychological in origin.
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According to the BBC, Jayden Bloomer and his mother Jackie Bloomer were hit by a Rover when it crashed in Water Street, Accrington, on Tuesday afternoon.

The driver of the car, an 89-year-old man, also died. Ms Bloomer, 30, suffered multiple injuries and is critically ill in hospital.

Lancashire Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
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According to the BBC, an investigation is underway in to how Mr Phillip Carsley, from Thurnscoe, South Yorkshire, died.

An ambulance was called to the scene of the accident but Mr Carsley was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident is being looked in to by both the Health and Safety Executive and Hampshire police.

Mr Carsley’s family said in a statement that his sudden death had left them “shocked and numb”.
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According to the BBC, those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are to receive are to be the beneficiaries of a more generous compensation scheme.

Under the old rules a soldier was only compensated for the worst three injuries from any one incident. The new rules will take in to account all injuries suffered, with compensation awarded on a sliding scale.

Those who suffer from post traumatic stress will also benefit from more generous awards and a rise in the annual amount given to soldiers for their loss of earnings.
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Gordon Brown has today provided more details of plans to ensure that everyone in England who suffers from cancer receives dedicated one on one specialist nursing.

According to the BBC, the Prime Minister stated that the move would transform the experience of patients.  In his speech at the health research charity, The Kings Fund, he stated regarding the proposals that “We must push forward with new and ever more stretching guarantees to secure for every family the right to get the best possible personalised health care when and where they need it”. In addition to this Mr Brown confirmed that the guarantees given would be legally enforceable.

These proposals would include the right for anyone with suspected cancer to see a specialist within two weeks of diagnosis and a commitment to ensure all cancer tests will be completed and results given in one week. Additionally Mr Brown said that one to one specialist care at home for cancer sufferers could “transform their experience” and would benefit £1.6million people.
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There are to be further improvements made in the care of premature babies in the East Midlands, health bosses have announced.

According to the BBC, £1.7 million has been invested in a new specialist transport service so babies can be quickly and safely transported to the appropriate unit after a review of the nine primary care trusts in the East Midlands identified areas for improvement.

Around 5,500 premature and sick babies require special attention and this investment will ensure that not only are the specialist hospitals at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and Leicester Royal Infirmary able to maintain their high standards of care, it will also mean that other neonatal units in the region are able to care for babies according to their needs and that the children can be moved from unit to unit much more easily, depending on the severity of their condition.
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