The patients were given lower-than- prescribed doses of radiation after a computer miscalculated the amounts they should receive.After the blunder came to light in 1992 the hospital admitted there had been a fault but had disputed whether it had caused harm. A report later said that out of 1,075 patients who had received wrong doses, more than 400 had since died and another 91 had suffered a recurrence of their cancers. It also said it was virtually impossible to say whether those who had died would have survived if it had not been for the mistake.James Evans, chairman of the group of solicitors who fought the case, said survivors and relatives of some patients who had died would be told over the next few days exactly how much compensation they would receive. But he added: “No financial compensation can be adequate for the trauma they suffered.”. Thousands of homes and businesses in southern Scotland were without electricity yesterday after a leaking pipe disrupted supplies.

Around 10,000 customers were cut off at around 7.30am in and around Kirkcudbright and Castle Douglas, Scottish Power said. The disruption was caused by a leaking pipe which flooded the Tongland sub-station in Dumfries and Galloway. Twenty schools in the area were closed for the day and social services such as meals-on-wheels were delayed. Scottish Power engineers managed to provide alternative power supplies for 7,000 customers. A spokesman for the power company said yesterday it was not known when the remaining 4,000 customers still without electricity would be switched back on..

Tracie Andrews, the woman accused of the roadside murder of her fiance Lee Harvey, appeared in court yesterday to formally enter a not- guilty plea. Ms Andrews, 27, spoke only twice during the 20 minute hearing at Birmingham Crown Court to confirm her name and answer “not guilty” when asked how she pleaded to the charge that she murdered her boyfriend on 10 December last year. Mr Harvey, 25, was found stabbed to death by the side of acountry lane at Coopers Hill in Alvechurch, Worcestershire. Ms Andrews’ bail, with strict conditions, was renewed and the case was adjourned for trial – probably later this year.. A man who hated women, and who had a “game plan” to murder four females, was sent indefinitely to Rampton high-security psychiatric hospital yesterday following a series of frenzied attacks. Rodney Barnes targeted and stalked women on their own to terrorise, rob or sexually attack them.

Police discovered he also had a list of 30 high- profile potential victims. Barnes was described by one psychiatrist as “probably the most dangerous man I have seen in my professional career”. He told police he wanted “to see out my game plan” – the murder of four female relations, including his mother and former wife. Barnes, 31, from South Ockendon, Essex, admitted a rape, an indecent assault, seven robberies, an attempted robbery and a theft in six weeks, starting on 5 March last year.. Young doctors are alienated from the managerial culture of the NHS and only their commitment to their patients is preventing them from leaving medicine, according to a study. Growing pressure from managers with clipboards who treat them as “technical monkeys” and demand increased work rates is eroding their ability to provide caring, compassionate medicine, the report from the British Medical Association says.
The study, based on detailed interviews with small groups of doctors aged under 40 around the country, found the growing need for doctors to measure and account for their clinical actions meant they felt less in control and undermined their sense of vocation.Isobel Allen, of the Policy Studies Institute and author of the report said: “Many were resisting what they saw as a managerial takeover which threatened their values and practice.”She added that doctors did not see themselves as “god-like figures” but equally did not want to be treated by their patients as “proprietors of a pizza parlour to be called up at any time of the day and night”.. More than one in three drivers suffer from stress and muscular aches and pains after stints behind the wheel.