Health Briefing

A round-up of other health stories in brief

Children's orthopaedic surgery resumes in Cork

A NEW PAEDIATRIC orthopaedic service being provided in Cork means that children from the south no longer have to travel to Dublin for surgery.

Due to a reorganisation of orthopaedic services in the HSE south area, children from Cork and Kerry with conditions such as club foot, hip dysplasia and cerebral palsy have had to travel to Our Ladys Hospital in Crumlin for the past two years.

However, the appointment of Colm Taylor, a new consultant orthopaedic surgeon with a special interest in paediatrics, to the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork city means children no longer have to travel for surgery. Mr Taylor will see about 2,000 children annually from Cork and Kerry.

The surgeon, who began his surgical career at the SIVUH, has returned from the UK having spent two years specialising in paediatric orthopaedics at Southampton University Hospital and Queen Alexandria Hospital, Portsmouth.

His first patient at SIVUH was Olan OBrien (2), who had a tenotomy operation to correct a club foot. Olans operation went very well and I am looking forward to re-establishing a comprehensive and accessible paediatric orthopaedic service in Cork, Mr Taylor said.

As part of the re-organisation of acute hospital services in Cork city, orthopaedic services were transferred from the former St Marys Orthopaedic Hospital (SMOH) to the SIVUH in December 2011. Three new theatres were built to accommodate this transfer. A second consultant, also with a special interest in paediatrics, is expected this July.

Women more likely to 'hold it in' says expert

WOMEN ARE THREE times more likely than men to suffer from constipation, according to the results of a nationwide survey. Some 16 per cent of people nationwide experience constipation, according to a representative survey more than 1,000 carried out by Empathy Research in January.

Some 23 per cent of women said they had experienced constipation, while just 8 per cent of men were affected by it. The most commonly expressed symptoms were feeling bloated and sluggish.

Embarrassing Bodiespresenter Dr Pixie McKenna said female hormones and pregnancy may have a role in the number of women who report experiencing constipation.

However, she said women were “notorious for holding it in” especially in the workplace. “I see that all the time. We have offices full of females have constipation problems.

“I defy anybody to find a woman who will open her bowels at work if you have the old-fashioned American lavatories like the ones you have in school.”

She also said women were more reluctant to ask for help. “People are mortified if you ask them questions about their bowel movements. I do it all day long as part of my job and people look at me like I have five heads,” she said.

She cited the example of one woman on the new series of Embarrassing Bodieswho took a coffee enema to control her bowel movements and ended up severely constipated as a result.

The Cork-born GP is fronting up the “Constipation Matters” campaign.

See constipationadvice.ie

New dosages for children's medicine 

The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) has said new dosage instructions for children’s liquid paracetamol medicines will appear on package leaflets and labels in the coming weeks.

IMB Director of Human Products Authorisation, Ann O’Connor, said the new dosage instructions were not linked to safety issues but to optimise the effectiveness of these medicines for children.The new instructions will include narrower age bands and will define a single dose per age band.