Velcro suits for hospital patients could spell the beginning of the end of the traditional backless gown.

Health chiefs at Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust yesterday unveiled the bespoke-designed suits.

The Dignity Giving Suits for patients are the first of their type to be used in British hospitals.

They have been universally welcomed by the hospital’s doctors, surgeons, nurses and also patients, who have been trialling them.

The wrap-around suits have velcro button fastenings along the seams, doing away with the flimsy tie-backs of the old, backless gowns. (AP)

Sharp police stingers withdrawn

Dozens of sharp police stingers have been withdrawn in the UK after one caused a puncture wound to an officer’s thumb, it has been reported.

The officer injured himself as he removed one of the devices, used to halt speeding cars, from a protective case, according to The Yorkshire Post.

Humberside Police have withdrawn 70 from use to have rubber tips fitted to the spikes, the paper said. “We are re-assessing the safety of one particular brand,” a force spokeswoman said. (PA)

RAF helps stranded animals

A Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter has started dropping feed to thousands of farm animals stranded in huge snow drifts in Northern Ireland as the UK agriculture crisis triggered by blizzards deepened. Thousands of animals are feared dead.

The extent of the losses is still unclear as most of the missing livestock are buried below the thick blankets of snow that have enveloped parts of counties Antrim and Down.

In some areas the drifts have reached 20 feet high. (AP)

Crisp-crazy British children

A third of British children eat crisps every day, with almost two-thirds regularly consuming them as a snack, according to a report.

Just over half (58 per cent) of eight to 15-year-olds eat healthy snacks such as fruit, vegetables, seeds or rice cakes compared with 89 per cent who choose “standard” snacks including crisps, biscuits, confectionery and cakes, the YouGov SixthSense survey of 2,100 adults found.

Confectionery as a whole is more popular than fruit, with 63 per cent of children eating it as a snack compared with 54 per cent opting for the latter. (PA)

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