Seven days in medicine: 31 July to 6 August 2019
BMJ 2019; 366 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l5038 (Published 08 August 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;366:l5038
Fertility
Birth rate in England and Wales hits record low
England and Wales recorded 657 076 live births in in 2018, equal to 11.1 per 1000 people—the lowest rate since records began in 1938 and a 9.9% fall since the most recent peak in 2012, showed figures from the Office for National Statistics.1 Fewer stillbirths occurred than ever before: 4.1 stillbirths per 1000 total births, for the second year running. The average age of mothers was 30.6 years, up from 26.7 in 1978.
Food poisoning
Sixth person dies of listeria from NHS sandwiches
A sixth person died after eating listeria contaminated food at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust. The deceased was one of nine previously confirmed cases, and no new listeriosis cases have been linked with the outbreak. All confirmed cases were among hospital patients in England. The supply chain is being investigated at North Country Cooked Meats, which supplied the contaminated chicken to an independent food provider, the Good Food Chain, that served 43 NHS trusts. Public Health England said that the public health risk remained low.
Mental health
University alerts parents to suicide concerns
In the first year of a new suicide prevention scheme at Bristol University, UK, the parents of 36 students were alerted to serious mental health concerns. The policy encourages students to allow the university to include a third party, chosen by the students themselves, …
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