Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

As many as 350 patients are dying due to lack of ICU capacity’ says Sligo Consultant

IRELAND SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY ON HEALTH BUT OUTCOMES ARE CONSISTENTLY POOR, A CONFERENCE IS TOLD

   

UP TO 350 PATIENTS ARE DYING EACH YEAR AS A RESULT OF CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS IN INTENSIVE CARE UNITS, THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE IRISH HOSPITAL CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN TOLD.

Dr Fergal Hickey, consultant in emergency medicine at Sligo General Hospital, also said that capacity deficits in neurosurgery was leading to deaths that could be avoided or disability that could be avoided.

He said Ireland was spending a lot of money on the health service. He said he was not arguing that more money was not needed, but rather he wanted to highlight that the country was not getting good outcomes from the funding currently being provided to the health service.

Dr Hickey said OECD figures showed that Ireland was one of the top-spending countries on health but that outcomes were “quite consistently poor”.

“Most of this comes down at the end of the day to severe capital under-investment. We have a history of dreadful decision making and very politicised decision making.”

He said when the Fine Gael/Labour coalition came to power one of the first things it did was to change the HSE capital plan to include new emergency departments and ancillary services in Kilkenny and Wexford to facilitate two Government ministers. He said both locations needed new emergency departments and other facilities but they probably didn’t have the greatest need.

Dr Hickey told the conference that “we should stop lusting after false gods” including that much more work can be performed in primary care.

“It can’t and it won’t,” he said.

He said the other false god was that if additional doors into the hospital were created that this would in some way improve capacity.

The eighth amendment is precious and wonderful so says Archbishop Martin

EAMON MARTIN CALLS ON POLITICIANS NOT TO LEAVE THEIR CATHOLIC FAITH OUTSIDE DOOR

   

EAMON MARTIN SAID THE CHURCH WOULD CALL ON POLITICIANS NOT TO LEAVE THEIR CATHOLIC FAITH OUTSIDE OF THE DOOR WHEN IT CAME TO ISSUES OF PUBLIC POLICY.

The eighth amendment to the Constitution has been described as “something precious and wonderful’’ by the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin.

“It is a very clear statement at the foundation and sub-structure of our laws that everyone has an equal right to life… the mother, an elderly person who is terminally ill, and the unborn child,’’ he said.

In an interview on the RTÉ Radio programme This Week, Dr Martin said it was “gravely wrong’’ to believe that the life of any human being could be taken at any stage.

He said the decision to have a referendum was not a matter for the Catholic Church.

“We would wonder if this is really the big issue that people on the doorsteps want to talk about,’’ he added.

“There are many issues in this country at the moment about tax, about water charges, about jobs, and we are aware, of course, there are sections of society who are calling for a referendum.”

Asked if it was possible to be a Catholic and support abortion in certain circumstances, Dr Martin replied: “I think if you are a Catholic who wishes to be informed by the teaching of your Church, you will not find in the teaching of the Church a statement that says you can support the deliberate and intentional taking of human life at any stage.’’

Dr Martin said the Church would call on politicians not to leave their Catholic faith outside of the door when it came to issues of public policy.

He said the Church had not been asked to fund any particular group in the campaign to repeal the amendment, although it knew there were many people working in the area of pro-life who felt they were powerless, particularly when they said there were huge amounts of money coming into other groups advocating a repeal of the eight amendment.

A citizens’ assembly, which will first consider a possible referendum on the Eighth Amendment, meets in Dublin Castle on October 15th.

It will look at the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution which, as article 40.3.3, underpins Ireland’s strict abortion laws. It will be chaired by Supreme Court judge Mary Laffoy.

Government sources do not expect it to return with its recommendations until towards the end of the first half of 2017.

The Irish health service needs the equivalent of six extra large hospitals?

   

MEDICAL CONSULTANTS SAY THE HEALTH SERVICE NEEDS THE EQUIVALENT OF SIX EXTRA LARGE HOSPITALS.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association says hundreds more acute beds are needed to bring the service to an “internationally acceptable” level.

The IHCA is holding its annual conference in Kilkenny today.

Association President, Dr Tom Ryan claims hospital overcrowding has an impact on patient safety:” Internationally hospitals would operate at 80% capacity, and this is done in the interests of public safety and in the interests of cost effectiveness.

“Irish hospitals operate at about 95% occupancy and this has obvious implications on patient safety, it is difficult to control infections.”

Meanwhile:–

Ireland very lucky to have avoided winter healthcare calamity?

THOUSANDS OF ADDITIONAL HOSPITAL BEDS NEEDED, IRISH HOSPITAL CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION SAYS

    

Above pictured L to R are the outgoing IHCA President Dr Gerard Crotty with the incoming President Dr Tom Ryan, Consultant in Intensive Care and Anaesthesia, SJH, and newly elected Vice President, Dr Roy Browne, Consultant Psychiatrist, Phoenix Care Centre

 IRELAND HAS BEEN LUCKY SO FAR TO HAVE AVOIDED A MAJOR HEALTHCARE CALAMITY DURING SURGES IN ACTIVITY IN HOSPITALS IN WINTER, THE PRESIDENT OF THE IRISH HOSPITAL CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION HAS SAID.

Ireland has been lucky so far to have avoided a major healthcare calamity during surges in activity in hospitals in winter, the president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association has said.

In an address to his organisation’s annual conference in Kilkenny Dr Thomas Ryan warned that while the country had been fortunate to date, that luck might not hold out. He called for a massive expansion in the number of hospital beds and a significant increase in the number of consultants.

“The longer the current model of healthcare continues, the more likely we are to encounter a major winter-time calamity.”

Dr Ryan said the number of additional acute hospital beds that were required to provide an internationally acceptable health service in Ireland is equivalent to six large hospitals such as the Mater University Hospital or Cork University Hospital or Galway University Hospital.

He said because of existing capacity deficits, “the public is being forced to accept healthcare rationing as hospitals continue to prioritise balancing inadequate budgets, with the provision of safe and timely care for patients being relegated to a secondary consideration”.

Dr Ryan said there were too few acute beds open in Irish hospitals and that of those that were available, as many as 500 – 600 were occupied by patients who had completed the clinical phase of their treatment and who were ready for discharge.

He said the shortage of accessible acute hospital beds was “the root cause of the trolley crisis in emergency departments countrywide.”

He forecast that the trolley crisis would worsen this winter as it had for well over a decade.

He said it was a reflection of a failing hospital system.

“As many as five per cent of our acute hospital beds are not accessible to treat acute patients awaiting admission and care. These clinically-discharged patients reside in acute hospitals as a direct consequence of the lack of funding for home care packages, nursing home beds and specialist rehab beds.”

Dr Ryan also said there were insufficient consultants working in Irish hospitals.

“We are short consultants in practically all specialties with about two-thirds the number of consultants recommended in the Hanly report in 2003.”

“However since the Hanly report, the Irish population has increased at a faster pace than anticipated and the demand for care has grown significantly.”

“The public has become immune to never-ending stories on the ‘crisis’ in our acute hospitals. However the many unresolved problems in our hospitals are now at such a critical level that patient safety is compromised on a daily basis. Many of our hospitals are running at an internationally unacceptable occupancy rate of more than 95per cent which has an adverse impact on patient safety.”

“We have a failing hospital system which is rationing healthcare to patients. The reductions in acute hospital and ICU beds and the cumulative cuts in investment for equipment and infrastructure have resulted in a stark mismatch between patient needs for care and the means to deliver it. When the first priority of a hospital is to be ‘within budget’, then the result is longer waiting lists, the trolley crises, overcrowding, cancellation of essential surgery and poor patient safety and care.”

Dr Ryan said there was an urgent neeed to strengthen healthcare governance.

“There is an urgent need to strengthen healthcare governance in Ireland. Patient safety should be the first priority in all our hospitals and therefore each hospital and Community Healthcare Organisation should have a board, which includes patient representatives, GPs and practising consultants to which the management is accountable. This is not the case at the moment”, said Dr Ryan

Your hangover cures & How to beat the morning after blues using the contents of your cupboard

  

IT’S BEEN A HEAVY NIGHT AND THE MORNING FEELS EVEN HEAVIER. BUT HELP IS AT HAND AND NOW IT IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK? IF YOU ARE SOBER ENOUGH MAYBE YOUR KITCHEN HAS THE ANSWER?

Last night was so fantastic that being able to remember it it would only tarnish the beautiful memory.

This morning, however, you’re wishing your whole sorry existence could be wiped away as easily as your recollections of every conversation from yesterday’s evening of fun.

Happily, help might be closer than you think.

Inside your cupboard are lurking various yucky, half forgotten items that might just cure that hangover you’ve been clobbered with.

Here are some of the household goods which might just cure your your post-booze blues.

What about Sprite?  

Chinese researchers recently claimed this lemon and lime fizz helped drinkers’ bodies process alcohol more efficiently

Chinese researchers recently claimed this lemon and lime fizz helped drinkers’ bodies process alcohol more efficiently.

The booze analysts examined the effects of 57 drinks and found that Sprite was the best at beating the morning after blues.

Sprite is said to boost the body’s ability to remove a chemical called acetaldehyde, which which is produced when alcohol is broken down and causes many of the symptoms of a hangover.

Pickle juice? 

The salt and vinegar reportedly restore the levels of electrolytes.

This isn’t going to be the tastiest of hangover cures, but bear with us.

If you take a swig from the pickle jar, the salt and vinegar reportedly restore the levels of electrolytes.

This means a quick shot of brine will leave you feeling hydrated – but probably even more sick than before.

And then theres Espresso coffee?   

Coffee dilates blood vessels in the brain, which could make headaches disappear.

Italian people think the best way to combat a hangover is to knock back a load of super strong espressos.

Their thinking relies on the fact that coffee dilates blood vessels in the brain, which could make headaches disappear.

But it could give everyone around you a sore head when you subject them to your hyper-caffeinated babbling.

Beer what ?????    

Some scientists think a small drink can help the body removes toxic by-products

In Denmark, they call a hair of the dog brew a “Reparationsbajer”, or repair beer, because it makes you feel better after a night on the booze.

Some scientists think a small drink can help the body removes toxic by-products from several drinks consumed the night before.

However, drinking on a daily basis is a surefire way to stumble into alcoholism, which will mean you pretty much always have a hangover.

What about lemon?  

Rubbing a lemon into your armpit whilst drinking could prevent the next morning becoming a nightmare.

Don’t bother trying to squeeze this lemon, because that’s not what the cure is based on.

Puerto Ricans reportedly believe that rubbing a lemon into your armpit whilst drinking could prevent the next morning becoming a nightmare.

And it makes you smell nice, which is probably the only scientifically proven part of this remedy.

Some raw eggs.  

A Prairie Oyster involves mixing an egg yolk with Worcestershire sauce as well as salt and pepper

A classic hangover cure called a Prairie Oyster involves mixing an egg yolk with Worcestershire sauce as well as salt and pepper.

This should then be swallowed whole, taking care not to break the egg.

However, this cure is not recommended for pregnant women – or anyone else for that matter.

Check out our top tips for seeing and photographing the Aurora in Northern Ireland

    

PHOTOGRAPHING THE AURORA BOREALIS IS SOMETHING THAT IS ON MANY PEOPLE’S BUCKET LIST AND THE GUYS AT NORTH COAST AURORA WATCH HAVE GIVEN US SOME TOP TIPS ON SNAPPING THE PHENOMENON

The aurora taken from Cave Hill Belfast with photographer Marty McClinton in the foreground

The Aurora Borealis, or as they are sometimes better known as, the Northern Lights, have once again been providing a light show above the skies of Northern Ireland .

Spectacular photographs of the solar phenomenon have recently been shared on numerous timelines, but how do you know when it’s going to appear and how do you capture it for posterity?

North Coast Aurora Watch, a Facebook page started by Ron Kelly, dedicated to providing real time alerts in the event of an aurora display along the North Coast gave us some of their top tips and information as to the best places from where to see and photograph this wonderful sight!

1. Follow North Coast Aurora Watch and check the Aurora activity. The main things to look for are the KP value (the higher the value, the further south the lights could possibly be seen) and Bz value (the direction of the Earths Magnetic Field)
2. Get yourself a DSLR camera that has a manual mode and a tripod – the tripod needs to be sturdy and tall.

The northern lights taken at Dunluce Castle, 

3. Find a good spot – This can be as simple as looking on Google earth or looking up historical buildings in your area or by asking other Aurora Hunters. It is usually better to find somewhere with little or no ambient lighting.

On the North Coast, there are a few main sites that are used – Dunluce Castle, Mussenden Temple, Kinbane Castle Gortmore Viewpoint and Ballintoy. However, there are many more across the Province and probably some have yet to be photographed

4. Get your camera settings right – The camera itself needs to have a manual mode, where you can adjust the ISO. You need to be able to shoot a long exposure, ideally 30 seconds. A low F ratio (ratio of the lens’s focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil) is also good, most 18-55mm standard lenses comes normally with a lower f ratio of 3.5, other lenses go lower. A wide angle lens is preferable.

Focus is a big thing. Focus your lens to infinity then bring it back very slightly. This can sometimes be difficult to do at night. A tip is to focus your camera during the dusk on a far away light, then use a piece of tape to hold the focus ring on the lens to the body keeping it in place. All other settings can be adjusted while you are out hunting.

The aurora at Ballintoy harbour, a favourite with Games of Thrones fans, 

5. Safety is a priority. Aurora hunters go to the darkest places, in an attempt to avoid light pollution. You could find yourself standing near a cliff edge, close to crashing waves, in a field in the middle of nowhere. Always tell someone where you are going.
6. Dress for the conditions. Warm clothes have to be worn because the aurora season is generally in the winter because of the longer nights. Warm clothing also includes a good pair of walking boots.
7. Be prepared with equipment – Bring spare batteries, you could be out for quite a while and you never know how many photographs you are going to take. Bring a good, bright torch and if possible, have a red lens cover for the torch. Red light doesn’t affect your night vision as much as white light.
8. Check the levels again then get on the road. Don’t forget, stay in contact with someone.

With over 10,000 followers since North Coast Aurora Watch started in 2014 there is no doubting the tremendous local interest in the northern lights.

Aurora photograph taken from Ballykelly in Co Londonderry looking over Lough Foyle towards Co Donegal.

“This page wouldn’t be what it is without the input from our followers,” said Chris, one of the page’s administrators.

“We go mainly on live sightings from wherever our followers are so we couldn’t do it without them.

“The great thing is we have followers with some knowledge who also help out new aurora hunters with settings and locations which enables us to share this fantastic spectacle.”

“However, you don’t always need a camera to see the spectacle. If it’s strong enough, you can sometimes see it with the naked eye.”    

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

It’s time to jail reckless bankers say’s & urges Lucinda Creighton in new policy

Bankers who recklessly lend money to people should face jail, Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton has said.

  

RENUA IRELAND FOUNDER & LEADER LUCINDA CREIGHTON

The leader of one of Ireland’s newest political parties was at Leinster House to publish her party’s plan on tackling white-collar crime.

Renua Ireland TD Billy Timmins said the Irish justice system does not take white-collar crime as seriously as so-called ordinary crime.

“If you steal an apple in Moore Street, odds are you will go through the process. But we know that many big criminals involved in company crime and fraud get away with it,” Mr Timmins said.

The plan

The party has published a 10-point plan aimed at increasing action against white-collar criminals, including making reckless lending a criminal offence – as recommended by the Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan.

“There is a really strong sense that notwithstanding the extraordinary collapse of the banking system and the massive destruction caused to the economy which has affected the lives of ordinary citizen, nothing has really changed,” Ms Creighton said.

The former Fine Gael junior minister said the policy would bring real accountability to actions and failures to act in the business world.

“We will introduce legislation which imposes criminal liability on a senior manager of a banking institution, fund or insurance undertaking who knowingly puts the viability of the institution at risk,” Ms Creighton said.

The other seven actions include:

1.       Criminal sanctions for company directors who conduct business recklessly, based on laws already in force in Australia.

2.      Curbing the use of limited company liability to escape punishment for breaking the law.

3.      Tightening provisions to ensure claiming ignorance of the law is not a defence.

4.      Reducing scope for sentence mitigation on grounds of previous good character or “good family”.

5.      Improving training for all company directors.

6.      Facilitating whistleblowers – including giving them a percentage of taxpayers’ money recouped from detecting wrong-doing.

7.      A special white-collar crime court with streamlined procedures and more training for judges and lawyers.

Asked generally about the new party, just launched in March, Ms Creighton said they are organised in all 40 constituencies nationwide in a very short space of time.

She conceded that she had said the party needed something like €1m to run a national election campaign but they had decided from day one not to take company donations.

“So the party in every constituency in the country is engaged in fundraising. It is amounts, big and small but mainly small, from individuals and not companies,” she said.

The Candidates?

Ms. Creighton said by the end of next week 14 candidates will have been selected.

“I think that is excellent for what is a party only launched weeks ago,” she added.

Wicklow TD Mr Timmins said the new party could not match the spending power of the big parties. He said unlike the big ones it got no taxpayer funding as this is decided at the start of each Dail term.

“But we have something special and that is the enthusiasm and commitment of our new members who want to change Irish politics for the better,” Mr Timmins said.

A number of candidates attended the launch, including Cllr Patrick McKee who stood in the recent Carlow-Kilkenny by-election.

Laya Healthcare hike up prices by a mighty 4%

 

Company blames rise on significant increase in volume and cost of claims

Dónal Clancy, managing director of Laya Healthcare, blamed a rise in the number and cost of claims for price rises that will apply to more an half the firm’s customers from September.

Most Laya Healthcare customers will face price increases averaging 4% from the beginning of September.

The company blamed the price increases on a significant increase in the volume and cost of claims over the past year.

The price increases will apply to around 55% of policies and will apply to policies renewed after September 1st. Laya says it has around 500,000 customers.

Laya managing director Dónal Clancy said the company was “acutely conscious of the impact” the increases would have and said it had “tried to minimise the impact across our schemes”.

“We have protected 49 of our schemes from a price increase, and minimised the impact on families with our free kids cover,” Mr Clancy said.

He said the price rises had been driven “by the significant increase we have experienced in the number and costs of medical claims in the past year”.

Mr Clancy said Laya had seen an 18% increase in the volume of claims while the cost of claims has climbed by 15% over the last 12 months.

“While better practices, high-spec technology and improved treatments are all translating into better patient outcomes, they are driving medical costs higher; which in turn has a negative impact on premiums,” Mr Clancy said.

He also pointed to a medical cost management programme implemented by the company which he suggested would deliver efficiencies of €100 million between 2012 and 2016 and had helped minimise the increases.

The Laya price increase sees it join GloHealth and Aviva in upping prices this year and attention now is likely to focus on what will happen and the State’s largest insurer, the VHI. While VHI has made no announcement on its pricing plans, an increase of some kind before 2016 seems likely.

Almost 100,000 new private health insurance policies were sold earlier this year as people rushed to enter the market to avoid age-related penalties introduced at the beginning of May.

Under the new Lifetime Community Rating (LCR) regime which started on May 1st, anyone aged over 34 without private health insurance has to pay higher prices when they take out a policy.

While the price increases will attract most attention, Laya healthcare also announced a range of new and extended benefits.

It has extended its “Free Kids” cover to its Essential Connect Health plan for a second child and every child up to the age of 18.

It will also reduce child rates on 18 schemes by between 3 and 6% and has promised to extend its 24 hour confidential GP Line.

Increases in Irish wine tax is totally against the spirit of the EU trade,

A group claims

  

The Support Your Local campaign said increases in the cost of a bottle of wine goes against the spirit of the European Project.

The group is calling on the Government to reduce excise duty on the beverage in the next budget.

It says a €1.50 increase since 2012 is having detrimental impact on farmers across the continent, while lowering the quality of wine being consumed here.

“€1.50 has been added in excise to a bottle of wine over three budgets,” said Evelyn Jones of the National Off-Licence Association, adding that the group is campaigning for a 50c reduction – one-third of the recent increase.

“That would go a long way towards improving the basic quality of wine tin he bottle.”

“The fact of the matter is that that Government is choking the quality out of an artisan product that’s produced by farmers across Europe.

“It’s seen as middle-class taxation- easy pickings – [but] would be contrary to the spirit of the EU treaty, as we don’t make wine here ourselves.”

There are a handful of wineries and vineyards in Ireland, but they are small in scale. The Lusca winery in Lusk, Co Dublin, produces only a few hundred bottles a year from vines next to their apple orchard.

Scientists stop aging process in earth worms, humans may be next

  

Human eternal life is just around the corner?

New research by molecular scientists at Northwestern University has led to the development of a procedure that allows them to switch off the aging process in worms.

As with most organisms, the worms initially showed that their adult cells began deteriorating when they reached reproductive maturity. The aging process — versus growing — begins because biological functions that protect cells within the body are shut down.

Since humans have the same genetic switch, the findings lend credence to the hope that humanity may one day be able to alleviate the aging process and certain degenerative diseases, according to the Daily Mail.

“Wouldn’t it be better for society if people could be healthy and productive for a longer period during their lifetime?” Richard I. Morimoto, senior author of the study, asked Phys.org. “I am very interested in keeping the [biological] quality control systems optimal as long as we can, and now we have a target. Our findings suggest there should be a way to turn this genetic switch back on and protect our aging cells by increasing their ability to resist stress.”

Morimoto is the Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Molecular Biosciences and director of the Rice Institute for Biomedical Research in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, where he has been building up to his latest findings for a decade. The study was published in the 23 issue of the journal Molecular Cell.

The transparent roundworm C. elegans has a biochemical environment similar to that of humans and are a popular research tool for the study of the biology of ageing and are used to model human diseases.

“C. elegans has told us that aging is not a continuum of various events, which a lot of people thought it was,” Morimoto said.

Harmful drinking is a middle-class phenomenon?

  

Wealthy over-50s are endangering their health by drinking far too much, experts have warned

Wealthy over-50s are endangering their health by drinking far too much, UK experts have warned.

Harmful drinking is a ‘middle-class phenomenon’ with older, successful people at most risk, AGE UK has warned.

Although affluent middle aged people often appear to look after themselves by eating well and exercising regularly, they are actually far more likely to drink too much than their less successful peers.

UK researchers warned it was a ‘hidden health and social problem’ because on the outside most wealthy middle class people appeared to be living well.

“Our analysis challenges popular perceptions of who is drinking too much,” said Age UK’s Chief Economist , Professor Jose Iparraguirre who carried out the research .

“It suggests public health messaging is not reaching high income groups who are most at risk.

“Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realise that what they are doing is putting their health in danger.”

The findings are based on responses from 9,000 over 50s who took part in the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing. They were asked about income, educational attainment, health, physical activity levels, loneliness depression, marital status, and employment.

Current NHS guidelines advise that men drink no more than 21 units a week – roughly 10 pints of beer. Women are advised to stick to 14 units, around seven glasses of wine.

The researchers defined harmful drinking as between 22 and 50 units a week for men and 15 to 35 weekly units for women. Higher risk was quantified as 50 units for men and 35 for women. One unit represents

Analysis of the responses showed that the risk of harmful drinking peaked for men in their early 60s and then gradually tailed off.

Women on high salaries and those who had retired were more likely to drink heavily, while smoking, higher educational attainment, and good health were all linked to heightened risk in both sexes.

Although the researchers found that heavy drinking was no linked to feeling lonely or depressed, men who lived on their own were more likely to consume harmful amounts of alcohol.

A report by the think tank 2020Health found that around eight million British adults drink more than is considered safe my experts, many of whom are middle class people who regularly drink wine with their evening meal.

Women are at greater risk if they evenly share a bottle of wine with their partner because their alcohol tolerance is lower than men’s.

The rise of home shopping delivery services has also been blamed for encouraging more older women to drink.

Government figures published last October showed a 65 per cent increase in the number of women over pension age beginning treatment for drink related problems in the last five years in England.

“We can sketch the problem of harmful drinking among people aged 50 or over in England as a middle class phenomenon: people in better health, higher income, with higher educational attainment and socially more active are more likely to drink at harmful levels,” added Professor Jose Iparraguirre

“Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence and with a ‘successful’ ageing process.

“Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people.”

Charities said that many middle aged older people did not realise how much they were drinking because they often did it at home.,

“Harmful drinking is a real issue for middle-aged and older people, many of whom are regularly drinking above recommended limits, often in their own homes,”

“These are the people who, if they develop alcohol related illnesses, tend to require the most complex and expensive health care due to the mental and physical problems caused by drinking too much.

Drinking too much alcohol is directly linked to over 60 medical conditions including liver disease sevenfold, mouth cancer fivefold and stroke threefold. For women, breast cancer risk doubles.

A four-legged Brazilan snake discovered recently

Fossil discovered of four-legged snake from 113 million years ago

  

An four-legged snake, Tetrapodophis amplectus a salamander.

Scientists have discovered a 113 million-year-old fossil of a snake which has four legs with fingers and toes.

The Tetrapodophis amplectus – nicknamed ‘huggy snake’ – is the first evidence found of a four-legged snake.

The 20cm-long skeleton, which is thought to be from Brazil, has a tiny head the size of a human fingernail.

It has two very small front legs with wrists, elbows and hands and slightly longer back legs, which would have been used to grasp its prey.

A skeleton of a Tetrapodophis

The fossil, which is of a juvenile, also shows adaptations for burrowing, rather than swimming, strengthening the idea that snakes evolved on land.

Dr Dave Martill, who discovered the unseen fossil in a collection in a German museum, said it is “an incredibly significant specimen”.

The University of Portsmouth professor said: “It is generally accepted that snakes evolved from lizards at some point in the distant past.

“What scientists don’t know yet is when they evolved, why they evolved, and what type of lizard they evolved from.

“This fossil answers some very important questions, for example it now seems clear to us that snakes evolved from burrowing lizards, not from marine lizards.”

• Fossil with hips shows snakes’ lizard past

Dr Martill has been working with expert German palaeontologist Helmut Tischlinger and Dr Nick Longrich, of the University of Bath, who studied the evolutionary relationships of the snake.

Dr Longrich, who had previously worked on the origins of snakes, became intrigued when Dr Martill told him the story at the local pub in Bath.

He said he was initially sceptical, but when Dr Martill showed him photographs, he knew immediately that it was a fossil snake.

He said: “A four-legged snake seemed fantastic and as an evolutionary biologist, just too good to be true.

“It is a perfect little snake, except it has these little arms and legs, and they have these strange long fingers and toes.

• Scientists discover fossilised remains of world’s longest snake

“The hands and feet are very specialised for grasping. So when snakes stopped walking and started slithering, the legs didn’t just become useless little vestiges – they started using them for something else.

“We’re not entirely sure what that would be, but they may have been used for grasping prey, or perhaps mates.”

Interestingly, the fossilised snake also has the remains of its last meal in its intestine, including some fragments of bone.

The prey was probably a salamander, showing that snakes were carnivorous much earlier in evolutionary history than previously believed.