The Midlands Today presenter has undergone surgery and plans to return to work for the broadcaster in autumn
Nick Owen has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and has undergone surgery, the BBC Midlands Today presenter has announced.
After a period of absence from the programme, the 75-year-old broadcaster spoke on Monday about the impact of the condition on his life since he received the news in April.
Continue reading...UK surgeon told the Public Health Association of Australia’s Cancer Screening Symposium screening is a ‘double-edged sword’
The UK surgeon whose work led to the introduction of bowel cancer screening tests has warned the practice has potential to be a “dangerous tool”.
In his keynote address to the Public Health Association of Australia’s Cancer Screening Symposium, Prof Robert Steele called for greater public awareness that screening is a “double-edged sword”.
Continue reading...Watchdog warns that admin errors, unexplained cancellations and delayed scan reports all contribute to longer waits for patients
Patients with suspected cancer are waiting months for diagnosis because of hidden waiting lists or falling into a “black hole” after referral, England’s patient champion warns this weekend.
Admin errors, unexplained cancellations and delayed scan reports are among factors contributing to longer waits, according to Healthwatch England, a committee of the Care Quality Commission.
Continue reading...Regulator acts after firm paid millions by NHS for healthcare gave patients wrong chemotherapy dose
Britain’s health regulator has partly suspended the manufacturing licence of Sciensus, a private company paid millions by the NHS to provide vital medicines, after the death of a cancer patient who was given the wrong dose of chemotherapy.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had taken “immediate” action under regulation 28 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 law “where it appears to the MHRA that in the interests of safety the licence should be suspended”.
Continue reading...Hungerford founded the charity Elizabeth’s Smile for children who lose a parent to terminal illness after his diagnosis
One of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs has died aged 43 as a result of bone cancer.
Nick Hungerford, the founder of the personal investment site Nutmeg, was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma in 2020 after feeling pain in his right thigh. An X-ray confirmed that he had a 5-inch tumour, which could also affect tissue around the bones.
Continue reading...Charity calls on government to do more to restrict unhealthy lifestyle choices
One of the country’s leading health charities is calling for urgent action to reduce the “carcinogenic effects” of cheap alcohol and unhealthy food after a 40% increase in deaths from liver cancer in a decade.
Liver cancer is now the fastest rising cause of cancer death in the UK, warns the British Liver Trust. Since the early 1970s, liver cancer mortality rates have more than tripled.
Continue reading...Cancer Research UK says melanoma cases ‘could soar’ by 50% over next 20 years and warns against sunburn
The number of people in the UK being diagnosed with skin cancer has hit a record high with a sharp rise among over-55s.
Melanoma cases across all age groups have reached 17,500 a year in the UK, the highest since records began, according to Cancer Research UK.
Continue reading...Sarah Ferguson told by doctors her prognosis is good after routine mammogram revealed disease
The Duchess of York has had surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer, her spokesperson has said.
, Sarah Ferguson, 63, was given the news at a recent routine mammogram screening.
“She was advised she needed to undergo surgery which has taken place successfully,” her spokesperson said.
Continue reading...Party’s first female general secretary, who has died aged 61, was essential part of team behind party’s 1997 landslide victory
Margaret McDonagh, Labour’s first female general secretary, has been hailed as a “tour de force” and an essential part of the team that secured the 1997 landslide election victory for the party, after it was announced that she had died at the age of 61.
Baroness McDonagh, who was elevated to the House of Lords in 2004, was, in effect, Peter Mandelson’s deputy during the 1997 election and went on to oversee a second dominant campaign in 2001. She became the party’s general secretary in 1998. She had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2021.
Continue reading...Chief executive Amanda Pritchard says that if early results are successful it will be rolled out more widely next year
A blood test which can detect 50 cancers before symptoms start to show could be offered to a million people in a pilot programme from next summer, according to the head of the NHS.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said the Galleri test has the potential to “transform cancer care forever”, according to reports.
Continue reading...Dispensers will be in place at schools, parks, sports venues and festivals across country this summer
Citizens of the Netherlands are to be offered free sun protection this summer in an effort to tackle record levels of skin cancer in the country.
Sun cream dispensers will be made available this summer in schools and universities, at festivals, parks, sports venues and open public spaces across the country, according to the government.
Continue reading...Broadcaster says she has had double mastectomy and was told news on same day as her OBE announced
The broadcasting veteran Anne Diamond has revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The GB News presenter said she received the diagnosis the same day as finding out she was to be made OBE.
Continue reading...North-west Syria regains access to radiotherapy for first time since Earthquake devastated the region but backlog means many remain in limbo
Cross-border treatment for cancer patients from north-west Syria resumed this week after February’s earthquake had left people without access to radiotherapy.
But medical organisations in the area are warning that the backlog means many cancer patients remain in limbo and some could die as a result.
Continue reading...Lord Butler says there is ‘strong public interest in the inquiry being carried out constructively’
The North Sea oil and gas industry is in decline, the shadow business minister Seema Malhotra said, as she defended plans to block new drilling licences, a move criticised by trade unions. Aubrey Allegretti has the story here.
MPs will hold a debate on Monday on proposals to ban members from the parliamentary estate if they are being investigated for a criminal offence and are deemed to pose a risk to other people.
Last night the government was debating whether to hold a vote on Monday on proposals to ban MPs accused of violent or sexual offences from the estate — after backlash from some Tory backbenchers. One senior Tory MP told Playbook they opposed the plan because it would overturn “common practice that you are innocent until proven guilty”.
Continue reading...Doctors found some patients could rely on chemotherapy and surgery alone to treat the disease
Thousands of bowel cancer patients could be spared radiotherapy, a study suggests, after doctors discovered they could rely on chemotherapy and surgery alone to treat their disease.
Radiotherapy has been used to treat bowel cancer patients for decades, but the side-effects can be brutal. It can cause problems that negatively affect quality of life, including infertility, the need for a temporary colostomy, diarrhoea, cramping and bladder problems.
Continue reading...Dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer and air pollution are often found in cosmetics, personal care products and cleaners
Some of the most common consumer products probably release 5,000 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in American homes annually, new research on the dangerous class of chemicals finds.
The research, which analyzed ingredient lists across dozens of product categories, found the most concerning levels in general purpose cleaners, art supplies and laundry detergents, while the individual product that emitted the most VOCs was mothballs.
Continue reading...EPA scientists assessed a dioxin cancer risks threshold in 2010, but a federal cleanup is only triggered at far higher levels
Newly released data shows soil in the Ohio town of East Palestine – scene of a recent catastrophic train crash and chemical spill – contains dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the exposure threshold above which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists in 2010 found poses cancer risks.
The EPA at the time proposed lowering the cleanup threshold to reflect the science around the highly toxic chemical, but the Obama administration killed the rules, and the higher federal action threshold remains in place.
Continue reading...‘Shocking’ analysis reveals only three trusts managed to treat 85% of patients within two months of urgent referral
Patients are being warned of a “shocking gap in cancer care” as new figures reveal that fewer than 3% of England’s NHS trusts met a key waiting-times target last year for cancer patients to be treated within two months of an urgent GP referral.
Of 125 hospital trusts in England analysed, only three (2.4%) hit the standard of treating 85% of patients within 62 days after an urgent referral in 2022. Some trusts have not hit the standard for at least eight years.
Continue reading...Japanese company Denka, along with US chemicals giant DuPont, have operated the plant that produces cancer-causing chloroprene
The US justice department has sued the two petrochemical giants behind a facility in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” responsible for the highest cancer risk rates caused by air pollution in the US in a major federal lawsuit that seeks to substantially curb the plant’s emissions.
Unveiled on Tuesday, the lawsuit alleges emissions at the Pontchartrain Works facility in Reserve, Louisiana, violate the Clean Air Act and “present an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and welfare”.
Continue reading...Suits that say beauty companies knew products contained dangerous chemicals to be consolidated in Chicago court
Nearly 60 lawsuits claiming hair relaxer products sold by L’Oréal and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated in a Chicago federal court, according to a Monday order from the US judicial panel on multidistrict litigation.
At least 57 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country over the products, which use chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, court records show. The lawsuits allege the companies knew their products contained dangerous chemicals but marketed and sold them anyway.
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