The study of 7,154 high-risk women, spanning over five years found in the 1990s that patients were 38% less likely to develop cancer and those who stopped taking it 20 years ago were still protected and was expected still to be working 30 years later or more. 

British researchers said if GPs routinely prescribed Tamoxifen to the half a million women at high risk of breast cancer, as many as 3,000 cases a year would be prevented. 

The pills are available on the NHS but fewer than 1,000 women are taking them to prevent breast cancer, partly because family doctors are unaware of the benefits. 

Around one in eight women will develop breast cancer in Britain and there are 50,000 cases a year. Women are deemed to be high risk if their likelihood of getting the illness is greater than 17% most often due to a family history of the disease. 

Lead researcher Jack Cuzick, a professor at Queen Mary, University of London, said that the drugs should be as widely prescribed as statins are to protect against heart disease. 

“There’s a major cultural shift which the profession needs to embrace,” he said. 

“There’s a fatalism about cancer, there’s a feeling there’s nothing you can do about it very much. We have very clear evidence we can do something. 

He said many women were unaware they were at high risk and to address this, he said, they should take risk assessments – a short questionnaire – at the time of their first mammogram, aged 47 to 50. 

Surprisingly, while it showed that Tamoxifen prevented the cancer occurring, the pill did not appear to reduce the total risk of dying from the illness. 

Professor Cuzick believes that it is still too early for this to be apparent. The study is still running, and he suspects that in a few years it will be clear that Tamoxifen also prevents deaths from cancer. 

Last year the NHS rationing body National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommended that GPs prescribe Tamoxifen to women at high risk. But bizarrely it has not been licensed as safe by watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency which, as reported in the Daily Mail, is why many doctors are unwilling. 

The drug works by blocking the hormone oestrogen from reaching potentially cancerous cells, which can cause them to divide. But it has unpleasant side effects, including many menopause-like symptoms such as hot flushes, sweats, nausea, muscle ache and weight gain. 

There is also a small risk of endometrial cancer, a rare form of cancer in the womb lining. 

 

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A quarter (25%) of employees say that financial worries, such as debts or having to fund unexpected expenses, have led them to distraction at work, with 18% feeling less financially secure, 13% admitting to having less in savings and 10% finding it more difficult to meet basic costs than this time last year. 

 

Six per cent have incurred more debts than they had twelve months ago too. 

 

Surprisingly, 68% cited lack of sleep as the leading cause of poor concentration at work. 

 

Not only can this affect performance and productivity, but it may pose serious health risks if left untreated. 

 

Employees are never the less working harder and longer, with almost 30% eating at their desk whilst continuing to work. 

 

Possibly as a result of this, many are finding that they are unable to keep on top of personal tasks outside working hours - 17% say that personal errands can lead to a lapse in concentration at work. 

 

Paul Avis, Sales and Marketing Director at Canada Life Group Insurance comments: "The increased pressure on employees may eventually limit the productivity and efficiency of the business. 

 

"Employers can help to manage work-induced stress by ensuring that they have mechanisms in place with which to deal with deadlines and workloads. 

 

"Similarly, there are ways of helping employees to deal with personal problems, possibly something as simple as offering flexibility around working hours to help them through a difficult time. 

 

"Employee Assistance Programmes often provide employees with support they need to deal with common worries such as help with finances, or managing relationships. 

 

"It is important for employers to try to tackle the root causes of employee stress before they spiral into something more and become a reason for employee absence." 

Just 5% of employers at the seminar, held by Jelf Employee Benefits, said that they felt they completely understood the rules for international healthcare in all the countries in which they had employees deployed. Only 2% said they believed their employees understood the rules for international healthcare completely in the country in which they were working and living. 

 

That is in spite of the fact that 98% of employers surveyed believe their staff outside the UK rely on them as employers to ensure they had adequate health cover. 

 

Separate research reveals that expat employees do think about healthcare provision in their new country of residence but the findings from the Jelf seminar suggest that their needs are often not met due to employers feeling to seek specialist advice. 

 

Almost two fifths (38%) of employers surveyed worry that the healthcare cover they have for some of their employers outside the UK is not adequate. Just under a third (29%) believe their employees may feel they did not have adequate cover for themselves, with 43% believing they may feel they had inadequate cover for their dependents. 

Variation across the country also exists. The King's Fund reported last month that 45 trusts – over a quarter – admitted less than 90% per cent of their patients within 18 weeks, more than double the number of trusts failing the 18-week target in August 2010. More than 20% of people still waiting for treatment have waited for longer than 18 weeks in the Wirral, Kingston, Wandsworth, Somerset, Sutton & Merton and Richmond & Twickenham. There is also variation across types of treatment. Nationwide, less than 90% of patients are seen within 18 weeks after being referred to trauma & orthopaedics, ENT, oral surgery and neurosurgery. 

 

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